The Twins of BG99
by monbade
Summary: Two brothers, assigned to to two different ships that are twin ships. Both are engineers, and both have a destiny. Chapters will be slow, because i am working many stories for my own site
1. Chapter 1

**The Twins of BG-99**

**Holocaust**

**Chapter One**

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years....**

**Until Now.**

**One day before the attack:**

**Pandora Gunnery Range:**

**Battlestar **_**Destiny**_** BS-121:**

Commander Jacob 'Mustang' Reading sipped his coffee and set the cup down. Picking up his knife and fork, he started cutting his eggs and sausage up as he read the morning reports. One report had him worried. He wondered what would have made his chief of security commit suicide like he did.

Wiping his mouth, he said, "Colonel, find out what happened to Chief Gomez. I want to know why he did it. He comes from Sagittaron, and they wouldn't kill themselves like that. It's a sin to them! This stinks to high heaven, to me."

Colonel Robert Norris looked up from his reports and then flipped the pages to find what his best friend was talking about. Finding the report, it confused him as well.

Setting his napkin down, he replied, "Yes, it does. I know Tom… I mean knew Chief Gomez very well. This stinks. I'll check right into it."

"Hmmm looks like our sister is joining us," Jacob said as he read the report for his eyes only.

"Which one?"

"_Providence_, she is joining us to do some testing of her new cannons. As you know, she just finished her refit. She should be here by nineteen hundred hours our time. Tomorrow we will be firing on asteroid nine, and twelve."

"That's all we do is target practice, wish we could get some real combat in," Robert stated as he tossed his napkin on his plate and the steward took it away. He watched as the blond girl sashayed her ass out of the room, and he gulped when she looked over her shoulder at him, and winked.

"Watch it, Tom, or Ginny will have you at an alter before you can say Cylon Baseship," Jacob said with a chuckle and stood up.

The two men walked out of the room as Ginny stared at their backs. Hate flashed in her eyes as she cleared the table and she softly said, "Soon you both will be dead!"

For the next six hours the _Destiny_ pounded the asteroid called 'Mars Fist' with hundreds of cannon shells. Chunks of rock were blasted off the four-mile spherical asteroid and then they were, in turn, pounded into dust. Finally the ships weapons went quiet as Raptor crews flew out to the asteroid and positioned more of the beacons while the ammunition ship _Lucky_ docked with the _Destiny_, and reloaded her magazines. By eighteen hundred hours, the ship was resupplied with ammo, and the _Lucky_ vanished into FTL to reload from Roanoke Anchorage.

**Battlestar **_**Providence**_** BS-122:**

**Over the planet Scorpio:**

**Scorpion Shipyards Space Dock 2:**

Commander Ike Walrus looked around his CIC. Seeing that everyone was in their place he gave his orders.

"Communications, please tell Scorpion Yards thank you, and that the _Providence_ will be disengaging all umbilical cables, sewage, and external ports in five minutes. All crew is aboard, and all holds are full of supplies."

"Sending now, Sir," the young blond woman said at the communications station and then she looked up, "Sir, Scorpion shipyard responds: 'Good luck, and smooth sailing.'"

"Thank you," Ike replied as he picked up the handset and started talking.

"This is the Commander. Set condition one throughout the ship, I repeat set condition one throughout the ship. We are leaving the space dock in a few moments to join our sister ship the _Destiny_ at the Pandora Gunnery range, for gunnery training. Once finished with gunnery training, Battle Group 99 will start a patrol along the redline for six weeks. I know everyone has noticed the extra crew on board. Well, for the next six weeks, we'll be evaluated by fleet central to see if we're ready. I know we are, you know we are… and they know we are. So I say this: 'So say we all.'"

Ike hung up the handset as the CIC crew replied with, "'So say we all!'"

Ike looked at his XO and said, "Colonel Bex, please disconnect all external power supplies and umbilical cables. Retract the gantry ports, along with the sewage and water mains,"

"Yes, Sir," Colonel Isis Bex replied as she picked up the handset and gave the orders.

"All back one-third power," Ike said. "Twenty percent to portside bow thrusters," Ike ordered, when they were clear of the station.

"Sir, engines at one-third reverse. Firing portside bow thrusters," Engineer officer Lieutenant Mathew Lin replied as he worked at the engineer's station.

"Mathew, where is Captain Hanson?" Ike asked.

"Sir, he's in the infirmary. He fell while working on a scaffold last night and broke his left arm and leg. The doc said he would notify you," Mathew replied as he worked on the engineering panel.

"Must have missed the report in the briefing this morning. Thank you. You may fire portside bow thrusters at one hundred percent and starboard rear thrusters at one hundred percent for thirty seconds. Ten degree climb on the bow planes," Ike ordered as he looked back at the Dradis screen.

"Firing thrusters… now! Ten degree climb," Mathew reported.

The great ship started turning as forty bow and stern thrusters fired at once. Her massive hull shivered as her power plants fueled by the liquid Tylium poured into her reactors.

Ike watched as the Scorpion shipyards fell away on the monitors above the Dradis board. When the monitors were clear, he gave his next orders, "Full power to sublight engines for one hour. When we reach point echo we will engage the FTL drive and jump."

"Yes, Sir," Colonel Bex replied as she watched her charges like a hawk. Spotting Lieutenant Sharon Boils at her station not paying attention, she walked across the room to lean down at the gunner station.

Ike watched as Bex disciplined the young gunnery officer and then turned back to the Dradis board.

_Providence_ slid through space like a fish in water as the hour counted down from leaving the station. Once the counter hit zero she vanished as her FTL drive came on line.

**Five hours before the attack:**

**Pandora Gunnery Range:**

**Battlestar **_**Destiny**_** BS-121**

"Dradis contact!" Lieutenant James Norris said as his board started flashing and then added, "I have fleet recognition. It's the _Providence._"

Commander Jacob 'Mustang' Reading picked up the handset, and said, "This is Destiny Actual to Providence Actual."

"Providence Actual here. How go the tests, Mustang?" came the reply through the speaker.

"Going good. The new railguns work like a charm or I think so. You can get your opinion tomorrow," Jacob replied.

'_The new railguns were made from an experimental metal that was supposed to dissipate the heat a hundred fold faster. So there wasn't a chance for a heat buildup like in the old guns and then they'd be forced to shut down their firepower. If the new guns worked like they're supposed too. The ships could stay in a firefight hours longer than anyone in the fleet… well as long as they had ammo that is,'_ Jacob thought as he listened to his friend over on his sister ship.

"Good, then tomorrow we shall see. What are the plans for the night?" Ike asked.

"We'll cruise around here for the night. Next set of tests start at oh-seven hundred. You'll be up first and then we'll come in behind you. Target is asteroid 2653 or code named 'Mars Fist' and were supposed to pound it to rubble," Jacob replied.

"Good, how about dinner?" Ike asked.

"Wish I could, but have Captain's mast tonight. Six offenders need sentencing. How about lunch after the tests? Jacob replied.

"Lunch it is. See you then. _Providence _out," Ike said as he cut the circuit.

"Colonel Norris, I'll see you in an hour," Jacob said as he left the CIC to change into his dress uniform.

**Ten minutes before the attack:**

**Pandora Gunnery Range:**

**Battlestar **_**Destiny**_** BS-121**

For the last five minutes, Jacob watched as _Providence_ tore into the asteroid, her main guns were ripping huge chunks out of the rock and hurtling them into space that was a thousand miles away from her. _Providence _turned and banked around the asteroid, firing her guns again and again. The _Destiny_ followed her sister ship around and behind her. She was staggered below her and seventy percent of her railguns were pointing to her starboard side. Hanging out of range was the ammunition ships _Lucky_ and _Whisper,_ which were packed full of ammo for the new guns.

"Bring our weapons online and start firing when…"

"Sir, flash message from Picon headquarters, they report they're under…" he never finished as Ensign Ginny Sanders stood up from her Dradis station. Grabbed the marine's head beside her and with a quick jerk of her small hands, she snapped his neck and killed him. Before anyone had the chance to move, she yanked his assault rifle out of his dead hands, spun around and started shooting everyone in the CIC.

Jacob felt fire rip through his torso as four bullets hit him in his chest and he flew backwards over the Dradis board. Bullets bounced off the wall as the blond spread havoc in the room. Three more bridge crew went down before they started reacting and Robert grabbed his pistol and was yanking it out of his holster when she turned on him.

"Ginny…" he started to say as he brought the pistol up and pain lanced through his head as the bullet hit him. He was dead before he hit the deck with a hole between his eyes.

Ginny was turning on the last three humans when the door was kicked open and three marines stormed in. Bullets flew across the room and she went down under a hail of bullets. A smile graced her beautiful face, as she knew she had completed her mission.

**Ten minutes before the attack:**

**Pandora Gunnery Range:**

**Battlestar **_**Providence**_** BS-122**

"Hard a starboard! Fire as soon as you have a weapons lock," Ike said as he watched the Dradis screen.

_Providence_ seemed to shudder and slide to the starboard as the ship fired. Shells exploded as they hit the rock, some punched through the solid mass of rock and flew off into space. Some of the railguns missed their target or barely hit, knocking giant slabs of rock off.

"Adjust heading by three more degrees to port. And fire again," Ike ordered with a frown.

"Firing," came the reply from the gunner's station.

"Sir, I'm receiving a flash priority from Picon fleet head…"

The young ensign sitting at the console flew backwards as Ensign Jamie Heart pulled her pistol and killed him with one round to his head.

Before the marines could respond, she was out of her seat, and had fired two more rounds. One hit the XO in the throat, ripping it out and killing the woman before she could blink. The second round hit Commander Ike Walrus in the left shoulder, hurtling him away from the Dradis station. Six more shots rang out and the three marines went down as she moved and kicked one of the CIC crew as he lunged for one of the fallen marines' guns. The kick hurled the two hundred pound man across the room.

Lieutenant Sharon Boils yanked her pistol out of her holster and turned towards her roommate. Before she could level the pistol, she was staring at her friend. "Jamie why?"

"Death to humans!" she snapped out and was pulling the trigger when the side of her head exploded.

Sharon stood in shock for a second, and then ran to her boss and checked him out. Pulling a handkerchief from her back pocket, she folded it as tears ran down her face. Slipping it inside the shirt, it turned red instantly as he lowered his pistol.

"Sir, you need to get to medical," she stated.

"I will. Get me up," he ordered.

Sharon helped pull her commander to his feet. He stood there swaying as he looked around at the carnage. Everyone was dead but he and Sharon as far as he could tell.

"Check them. I'll see what the message was," Ike said as he staggered over to the communications station and went down on one knee as he pulled the headset off the communications officer.

Listing to the message, he gasped out at what he was hearing and then the training took over. Climbing to his feet, blood pouring out his wound, he walked to his chair and sat down as he fumbled with the handset.

"Attention all hands. We've just received a message that Picon Fleet headquarters has been destroyed. This wasn't an accident. We have been attacked by the Cylons. Admiral Nagala has transferred his command to the _Atlantia_ and is engaging the enemy. All ships are ordered to report to his location over Virgon for the counter attack…" Ike started coughing up blood as Sharon took the handset.

"We need medical personal and a CIC crew up here. The captain has been shot…" she stopped talking as an alarm sounded. Turning she ran to the Dradis board and looked in horror as hundreds of contacts started appearing. Grabbing the handset, she screamed in it, "Enemy fighters to starboard. Open fire!"

While the _Providence _turned her massive weapons to starboard, the _Destiny_ continued on her heading. _Providence_ open fired at the incoming Raiders. Her new armament belched death at the incoming fighters, ripping scores out of the air before they could get in range.

Sharon yelled her encouragement as the enemy ships were swatted out of space and then she watched in horror as systems started shutting down. Running to the computer stations, she watched as the virus took effect. Realizing what was happing, she started typing as fast as she could. Systems around the ship went into standby mode as she deflected the attack to subsystems. Weapons stations went to local control as she watched as the forward part of the ship vented her atmosphere. With a snarl building in her throat, she ripped engineering out of the loop and the secondary CIC station. Grabbing the handset, she could hear the oxygen being vented from the rooms as she waited for engineering to pick up.

"Engineering here what the frak is going on?" Lieutenant Mathew Lin asked.

"Mathew, you have the ship. Everything from the frame two hundred to the bow is off line and venting space. We were hacked through the CNP, which probably affects the vipers as well. Don't launch them... Matt, everyone on the bridge is dead or dying. Weapons are in local control… it's the Cylons," she stammered out as dizziness washed over her and she hit the deck.

Around the ship, every weapon was firing in local control. The rail guns had finished turning and started firing at the baseships at long range. A dozen rounds hit the first ship and it blew apart as its refined Tylium in the ships fuel tanks acted like a bomb. The guns turned on the second baseship and started firing. The rounds were almost to it when it vanished into FTL taking the remaining fighters with it.

**Minutes into the attack:**

**Pandora Gunnery Range:**

**Battlestar **_**Destiny**_** BS-121**

_Destiny_ was locked in a turn that took her around the asteroids as systems started shutting down. Captain Andrew Lin watched as the virus rammed its way through his firewalls. Turning his head, he shouted, "Yank the engineering computers from the network!"

"What? We do that and…"

"And we'll be just like the old Battlestars, if we don't, we're dead," he snarled and ran for the computer core. Grabbing a fire axe off the wall, he stepped behind the computer station and slammed it into the junction box. Sparks started flying as he hit the lock again and it popped open. With a third swing, he shattered the delicate components, severing the system. Around him, lights went off, but the one thing it did was sent a power spike back through the system and frying the main computer, which shut down the venting before it could kill everyone.

Around the ship, systems shut down as the virus did its deadly work as explosions were heard from the detonating missiles. A five-megaton warhead hit the bow, and the ship lurched to port as the missile eradicated the bow with deadly radiation.

"Frak, we need the auto defense guns online," Andrew said as he ran to the emergency CIC room right down the hall as the ship healed over from another missile hit.

As suddenly as the attack started, it was over as the _Destiny _slipped past the asteroid called 'Mars Fist,' and the Cylon Raiders started jumping as her engines finally died.

**Ten minutes after the attack:**

**Pandora Gunnery Range:**

**Battlestar **_**Providence**_** BS-122**

Lieutenant Mathew Lin watched on the monitor as the last of the Raiders jumped. Turning to his engineering crew, he shouted, "Ok, they're gone. But they'll be back. Let's get what we can up and running. One thing we need is the flight pods so we can launch our vipers…"

"Sir, what about the CIC and the bow?" Chief Michelle Howards asked.

"Michelle, I want you to lead a team to the CIC and see if anyone is still alive, and find out what the frak is going on up there. Corporal Hawk, I want you to get your team together, and start checking the decks. We need to know how…" he stopped talking as the handset squealed beside him.

Picking the set up, he said, "Engineering, Lin speaking.

"This is Lieutenant Mike Davidson of Hawk Squadron; I'm in the starboard flight pod. Can we get some power to extend the bay so we can launch?"

"Sorry Lieutenant Davidson, the computers that control the pods are off line due to the virus attack. I'm trying to get them back online right now as well as the other systems. We barely survived the virus attack down here and have limited control. Emergency CIC is up and running and I'm on my way there. We have point defense and heavy railguns online. Missiles are off line, I'm trying to get them back online as well."

"We need to get in the air!" Wishbone snarled.

"Even if you could get in the air, the bridge ordered us not to launch because if what affected us through the CNP would have affected the Vipers as well. So for right now all planes are grounded until we can go over them and reinstall the old CNP program. Got it?"

While he was talking, Michelle was working at her computer station trying to reboot systems. She had been bringing small systems online, the galley, laundry, and she had been able to shut all the vents in the ship to save what air they had left.

"Look…"

"No, you look. What will you do when your fighters shut down and you watch as the enemy blows them out of the air?"

"Sir, I have the _Destiny _on the horn as well as the _Lucky_ and _Whisper_… Sir, flight pods are extending," Chief Michelle Howards shouted.

"Good, send to _Lucky_ and _Whisper_ to land in our flight bays, soon as they're down. Close them again..."

"Sir, you want to land fully loaded munitions ships in our bays while we're at war?" Michelle asked as she listened to the handset.

"Yes, because we will need that ammo to protect the _Destiny_ until she at least gets her weapons back online…"

"Sir, your brother suggests they transfer to the _Providence._ He states the ship has taken heavy damage, their FTL is offline and there is no way to repair it at this time," Michelle said.

Mathew stopped what he was doing and looked at the Chief and thought for a second before responding. "Very well, tell them to extend bays, and we'll send our raptors to transfer the crew…"

"He says they have no power on the bays except for the gravity plates. Everything else is off line."

"Frak! Then we'll have to do an emergency dock. Jackson, Anderson, Vermont, and Michelle, follow me to the emergency CIC," he replied as he left the room.

Mathew jogged down the hallway towards the emergency CIC, behind him, the three ensigns and the chief followed. Yanking the hatch up, he slid down to the next deck and started running again. As he came to the door, he grabbed the wheel and spun it open. After two hundred spins it was unlocked for them to pull it open. Then Mathew and his fellow crewmen grabbed the hand bars and started pulling. As the door opened, air flooded into the room. When it was open enough for them to slip into the room, they found a room of horror. Draped over the consoles were the CIC crew, some had clawed at the door to get it open, while others had died at their stations, suffocating as the air was leached from the room.

"Ensigns Anderson, Jackson, remove the bodies. Ensign Vermont, you have the helm. Michelle you have communications, I'll take Dradis," Mathew ordered.

Mathew looked at the Dradis board and started touching icons. On a side screen, it showed the _Lucky_ and _Whisper _heading for the landing bays. Tapping another screen, he found the _Destiny; _she was sitting behind 'Mars Fist' surrounded by wreckage that had been blown off her hull. It looked like a third of her heavy railguns were scrap and her portside landing bay was ripped open. The good thing was, her bays were closed and that would allow them to dock.

"Hank, take us over to the _Destiny,_ one quarter speed. We need to come up behind her and hover with our engines just above hers. Once we're there bring us to a dead stop and gently lower us until we're ten feet from the ship. Once there, I'll give you more orders," Mathew said as he started deploying the escape trunks.

Across the bottom of the ship forty escape trunks lowered from the hull until they extended ten feet below the ship. Several Dradis antennas slid up into the hull, while the ventral railguns turned to face bow and aft. They then slid up into their recesses to make the bottom of the ship flush.

"Sir, what about the _Destiny's_ railguns?" Michelle asked as she watched her monitor.

"That's why I brought ours in. With ours in, we should be fine… slow her down Hank," Mathew said as he worked on preparing the ship for docking.

"Ok," Michelle replied and then cursed as she was kicked out of another system, "Frakking Cylons. Well, there are two ways to skin a program."

"What's wrong Michelle?" Hank asked.

"This program is a bitch. Whoever designed it was smart," she said.

"Frakking toasters. Hope the fleet is kicking their asses all over the colonies," Mathew said as he gripped the joystick for thruster control and added, "Hank, release all thruster controls.

"Sir, I don't think they are. If this virus hit us this bad, think of how bad it caught the fleet. Especially with half of it in dock…" she stopped talking as the ship lurched and came to a stop. On the display board, green icons started coming on as the forty escape trunks locked together.

The speakers came to life as Captain Andrew Lin's voice came on, "This is _Destiny_ we show good seals on all escape trunks. Hello Matt."

"Heya Andy, let's get your crew over here, I don't want to be here too long if the toasters come back…"

"Dradis contact!" came over the speaker.

Mathew turned to his board and stared in shock as hundreds of fighters appeared and started launching missiles. The guns that could bear turned and started firing their flak rounds at the incoming ships as hundreds of missiles started coming in.

The ship lurched as missiles started slamming into the two ships as alarms started sounding. On the damage control boards, stations started turning red from damage being inflicted.

"Radiological warnings, we have incoming nukes!" Hank shouted over the sound of detonations.

"Mathew, get out of here!" Andrew shouted.

"Andy…"

"No listen, we can't jump. We can't fight! All we can do is die. You can run and fight at another time. Repair your systems and get going. Save our people and run. I believe we've lost this one," Andrew said.

"I love you big brother. _Providence _salutes those on the _Destiny,_ goodbye," he replied as he hung up the handset.

Tears were running down his face as he gave the next order, "Michelle, disengage the trunks, prepare to FTL."

"Disengaging…"

Everyone went flying as the nuke hit the side of the ship just forward of the starboard flight pod. The waves of molten plasma, heat and gases along with a massive dose of radiation surrounded the two ships and quickly dissipated leaving both ships burning. The automatic defense weapons came online once again and started firing flak rounds.

Climbing back to his feet, Mathew looked at the damage control boards and froze. All the trunks were offline and he knew they were now dead.

"Frak!"

"Mathew, you'll have to do an emergency jump. You'll take damage, but you should get away. Now spool up your FTL!"

"Spooling, we'll see you in hell," Mathew said as he watched the counter count down. Looking at the board, he saw it was green and reached out for the key as he whispered, "Goodbye, Andrew."

_Providence's_ FTL spun up to full power as missile after missile hit the massive ship. A nuke went off, setting off three more coming in right behind it as Mathew turned the key and…

_**First Edited by Bill Lewis**_

_**Final Edit By TeNderLoin**_

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Battlestar Sword and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2010.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Twins of BG-99**

**Hiding**

**Chapter Two**

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years....**

**Until Now.**

**Ten minutes after the attack:**

**Battlestar **_**Providence**_** BS-122**

Mathew groaned as pain wracked his body. Opening his eyes, he blinked them as he tried to focus them on the light above him. He remembered turning the key, and that was the last thing he remembered. His stomach heaved and he rolled over and puked on the steel deck plates.

"That's gross, sir," Michelle said as she grabbed the garbage can near her and puked in it.

Wiping his mouth, Mathew climbed to his feet and stood there swaying on shaky legs. "Sorry. Oh I feel like I did when I graduated into fleet, the party we had afterwards had me sicker than a dagget from all the booze we consumed," he said as he shook his head and felt a spike of pain from his headache.

"I know what you mean," Michelle replied after she wiped her mouth as well, reached into her back pocket and pulled a silver flask out. She took a sip of the Ambrosia in the flask and passed it to Mathew.

"Here, Sir, rinse your mouth," Michelle said.

"Thanks," Mathew said and took a swig of the liquor and gasped out after he swallowed it, "Smooth."

"Thanks," she replied as took the flask back, capped it and put it away. She then went and checked on the three ensigns who had been in the room when they had jumped. All were alive, just knocked out.

"They're alive, and don't seem to be injured. I can wake them if you want me to…"

"Do it. We need everyone awake," Mathew said as he turned to the Dradis board and started the reboot of the system. He then walked around to the other stations, doing the same, by the time he finished with the last station. Everyone was awake and the calls started coming in as he walked back to the ship's status display and saw they had lots of red compartments, but several major sections of the ship were in the green. Both flight pods, engineering as well as medical, water reclamation, food storage and the assembly bay.

"Well, we have flight pods, engine room, medical, and several other critical systems still in the green, but a lot of the ship is in the red. We need to get crews out…"

"_Destiny_ to _Providence_, what the frak happened and where are we?" came through the speakers.

Mathew grabbed the handset and shouted, "Andrew?"

"Yeah, and you owe me a bottle of ambrosia. Now what happened? Did we jump?" Andrew asked.

"I think we did. Not sure what happened, and you can have your pick of my bottles. Bro, it's so good to hear your voice," Mathew said as he looked around the CIC and saw Michelle working at her station and then she looked up at him.

"Michelle, what is it?"

"Sir, I have a count of the survivors by using internal sensors. Of the six thousand three hundred and fifteen personal onboard, we have three thousand, and twelve left alive. We lost half the ships personal, most of them in the bow section, and no senior officers have answered," Michelle reported.

Mathew staggered and sat down as he thought, 'Over half the crew dead. My god!'

"Mathew, what's the matter?" came through the handset.

Raising the handset to his ear, he replied, "Sorry, Andrew. Just received the casualty report. We lost over half the crew including all senor officers."

"We're not as bad as you. We lost over two thousand in the attack. We have just over forty-one hundred left. Mathew, I'm giving you a battlefield promotion to Commander. You have command of the _Providence._ Let's combine the crews for now and get the ships repaired. Then, we'll figure out what to do," Andrew said.

"I'm not a pilot. I cannot command a Battlestar," Mathew replied.

"Doesn't matter. This is an emergency and in emergencies you can command. Admiral Laurence promoted me to Commander just before he died, which was just before we contacted you. That allows me to promote you. So let's get to work. Destiny out!"

Mathew listened as the handset was hung up and he slowly hung his up.

"Congratulation, Sir," Michelle said.

"Thank you Colonel Howards," Mathew replied with a grin.

"OH NO! You're not making me an officer!" Michelle snapped back.

"Too late and it looks like we're both out of uniform, but we can deal with that later. For now, let's see about getting repairs done. Ensigns Anderson, Jackson and Vermont, I'm promoting you all to the ranks of lieutenant with one minute between each of you starting with Andrews. That way you have a chain of command. You know your expertise, so man your stations. Michelle, get with the crew and start getting the repairs done. I also want you to get the best computer people we have left and start downgrading the CNP software on all the Vipers. While I'll start on the repairs…"

"Sir, I know my job. And right know there could be crew alive in the red sections and just cannot answer. While I get the marines to form teams of four together and start searching the ship, you need to figure out where we're at," Michelle suggested as she stood up.

Mathew stopped and looked at his XO and nodded his head, "All right, I'll do that. You get going," he ordered.

Just as Michelle took her first step, everyone stopped when something hit the hull of the ship with a loud clang.

"What the frak was that?" Mathew said as he turned to the Dradis screen and kicked the computer, "Boot up you son of a toaster reject!" he snarled.

Before everyone eyes, it started whirling and then booted up. When the main screen stabilized, it showed hundreds of contacts around the ships.

The handset squawked and Mathew picked it up.

"Lin here!" Mathew said.

"Matt, what the hell hit us? We have no power to our CIC so we're blind here," came through the speaker.

"Andrew, I don't know. Our Dradis is booting up now," Mathew replied.

"I have Dradis contacts!" Michelle shouted and everyone on the bridge jumped to their stations.

"Just a second Andrew," Mathew said and looked at Michelle, "What are they? Are they Cylons?" he asked.

"Weapons online!" Lieutenant Rick Anderson shouted.

"No, I have colonial beacons!" Michelle said.

"Who are they?" Mathew asked as he started tagging the icons. He saw freighters, liners, water ships, Tylium ships, hospital ships, Botanical cruiser, military cargo ships, and even some cruisers, destroyers and frigates.

"What the frak? Where are we?" Mathew said as he looked over at Michelle.

"Don't know, I have a satellite about thirty thousand meters off our port bow… Sir, we're at 'The Graveyard,'" Michelle reported as she looked up from her station.

Mathew turned and looked at Michelle and grinned. "The… Perfect! All stop, shut down running lights. I want all systems down to a minimum," Mathew ordered.

"Yes, Sir," Michelle replied.

"Andrew, shut all your external ports if you can, if you can't, shut power down to those rooms. We need to make us look like derelict ships; I need your computer specialists up here. I want to upload the old CNP software into the Vipers and Raptors. When finished, I want to position Raptors around the graveyard to watch for Cylons or any other ship as we do repairs…"

"What about the fleet?" Andrew asked.

"I believe the fleet is gone. I believe the colonies are gone. If what shut us down hit the fleet, then we were wide open for a massive attack…"

"We don't know that. We should use our Raptors to check, and scour the planets. If what you say is true, we need to rescue as many people as we can. If that is the case, then those ships out there need to be restored and used for the survivors," Andrew replied.

"I agree, so let's get our crews working on it," Mathew said.

"So say we all," Andrew replied and hung up.

"So say we all," Mathew said as he hung the phone up and turned on the intercom. "This is Lieutenant, I mean Commander Lin, by order of Admiral Laurence, I've been appointed commander of the _Providence._ Captain Andrew Lin has been appointed Commander of the _Destiny._ As you know the Cylons are back. My brother and I have just been talking. We believe that if what hit us, hit the fleet, then the fleet is gone. The only reason we survived is due to the bravery of Lieutenant Sharon Boils who separated the virus from many of the systems of the ship, if she hadn't we'd be dead as well. Currently we're hiding in the 'Graveyard', and I'm sure you've all heard of it. There are over four thousand deactivated and stored ships here. We can use them.

"Now listen up, all of you, we may be the only two Battlestars left in the colonial fleet. Remember that, we're fleet. We have a higher calling, so at this time, we need to repair the ships. Of the fourteen thousand three hundred and fifteen crewmembers between the two Battlestars, and not counting the six hundred on the two ammunition ships, we have between the two ships just over seventy-one hundred crew left. Now, we need to work together to repair the ships. At this time, I want all of you to form up into teams, either repair, or SAR teams. Marines will be positioned at all vital areas to protect the ships in case the toasters get aboard.

"People, we need to be ready, but first we must get ready. I want all computer specialists to report to both hangars of the _Providence._ The first job you must do, is replace all the CNP software in the Raptors, Heavy Lifters and Vipers as well as the Battlestars CNP to prevent them from shutting us down again. If you can, I want more firewalls in our systems as well. When you're finished with the _Providences_ hangars, report to the _Destiny_ and do the same. Then we'll start on the rest of the computers.

"Raptors, as soon as we have all forty Raptors fixed, I want all of you loaded with full combat loads including two nuclear weapons each. Vipers, full missile and cannon rounds as well. When we launch the CAP, I want you to set down in pairs on the derelict ships and stay hidden. That way we can get the upper hand if the toasters attack again. Ten will be kept here for security, the rest of you are to check out the home worlds, and patrol areas of the fleet. As you know, the _Providence_ and the _Destiny_ are equipped with the larger extended Raptors, so you can carry more survivors if you find them. One thing you need to look for is surviving ships, be it colonial fleet or civilian. If you find civilian ships without FTL drives, guide them to a place to hide and then we'll get them some FTL drives.

"Heavy Lifters, you will go with the Raptors checking the patrol stations of the fleet. You will go in, and check for survivors. If there are no survivors and you see things we can use, snag it and bring it back in your internal holds or with your claws. Raptors, remember, the heavy lifter can use its FTL drive to jump smaller ships. Or if several are used, they can jump a small freighter. So if you find survivors and they need a lift, give it to them. They can grapple with the ship, series their drives and jump.

"Repair crews, we took several nuclear missiles on the bow and sides, we need to fix any damage we took, plus check the armor to see if it ruptured. Also, several of the rail guns are out of order; those are a priority as well. We also need to fix the emergency escape trunks so we can separate from the _Destiny._ So more repair teams will need to fix them as well. Now _Destiny_ took heavy damage to her guns and portside landing bay that we know of, what's happened internally, we don't know at this time. Whatever her damage is, those are priorities for her, most of her repair crews will be working on them.

"Internal housekeeping, I want you to keep doing your jobs. We need fresh uniforms, hot food and clean bunks. I know cleaning the rooms and marine barracks are not your job. But I ask you to step up and help. I also need an inventory of all supplies on board as well as what we need. That way we know what to look for.

"Fabrication deck, we need to fabricate as fast as safely allowed. One thing we'll need is armor plate. We will send crews to the worst ships and start hauling the smaller ships into the recyclable bay once we separate from the _Destiny._ We will also need to set up molds for the ammo for the new railguns, because we will need to make our own once the supplies we have are gone. Also, see if you can turn our standard missiles into nuclear tipped ones, we only have thirty onboard and may need more, later, if we meet too many baseships, especially if we cannot find anymore or get to the factory on Virgon to search there.

"Marine Security, I want guards outside the vital parts of the ship as well as magazines, and internal patrols. I want you to randomize your patrols; don't become complacent to the same patrol pattern. Also, start setting up drills to repel boarders in case the Cylons get aboard. Now let's get to work, emergency CIC out," Mathew said and then hung up the handset.

The next few hours were a nightmare of work for the crews of the two ships, as they rushed around like ants, trying to be everywhere at once to make repairs. The first job finished was the Vipers and Raptors and then they were launched after the pods were extended. Then the trunks came online as well as the FTL drive, emergency CIC and the internal light systems for both Battlestars. Next was shoring up damaged compartments, and replacing the damaged armor plates as well as repairing the rail guns and mounts.

**Raptor 374632**

**Moon of Libran **

The Raptor appeared near the moon of Libran. Captain Laura 'Farmer' Jones used her Mark one eyeballs while her ECO did a low powered Dradis scan.

"Farmer, I have some faint contacts over Libran, one is about the size of a Battlestar and is circling the planet. The rest of the contacts seem to be wreckage. I have no contact with the Libran space port," Ensign Wally 'Shark' Edwards reported.

"Frak!" Farmer said softly as she watched her home planet spin.

The computer system started blinking and Wally turned to it. "Hey! I got an id on the big contact, it's a baseship," Wally reported.

"Good, revenge time. Spin up the FTL, and arm the nukes. I want to jump right next to her, fire our missiles and jump away," Laura snarled in anger because that was her home planet under attack.

"Sir?" Wally asked.

"You heard me," she replied as she set up the attack computers.

"Yes, Sir," he replied and started setting up the jumps.

Seconds after he inputted the coordinates he said, "Coordinates are input. Missiles armed. We're ready."

"Hang onto your hat," she replied and hit the FTL icon and they jumped.

Vanishing from where they'd been sitting, they appeared next to the ship, and looking at the huge ship. Laura pressed the fire control and all the missiles in the weapons pack fired. Before the Cylons could react, twenty-four normal missiles were launched from the duel missile packs as two nuclear tipped missiles dropped from their hard points. The Raptor vanished as the ship started firing her cannons at the sudden intruder, missiles blew up as they were targeted, and one of the nuclear weapons was shattered. The second missile flew in and hit the central spine of the ship and blew up. The three-megaton warhead shattered the support structure, and the ship collapsed in on itself as the gravity of the planet started pulling it in.

Raptor 374632 appeared over the ocean of Libran. The deep blue waves were washing ashore. Banking the craft, she flew north and jumped up over a ridge and they came to the city of Libris, the coastal city looked intact, but there were fires burning out of control in some areas. Laura brought the ship over the spaceport and saw a dozen liners sitting on the edge of the runway as well as several dozen other ships. Over near the space guard, there were at least fifty Raptors sitting there. There were people running around the port while others seemed to be firing into the surrounding buildings.

Dropping down to the deck, Laura saw hundreds of Cylons advancing on the spaceport from dozens of large landing craft. They were firing indiscriminately into the masses, killing men, woman and children. Angling the nose of her Raptor, she emptied the two top missiles pods containing her air to ground missiles at the murders. The missiles shot through the air, and landed among the advancing Cylons, blowing them up into the air as she pressed the cannons on her Raptor. Cannon rounds marched through more of the toasters, blowing them away, and allowing the survivors to regroup.

"Wally try and raise those ships," Laura said as she watched the toasters fall back.

"Raising them now, by the way, radiation count is rising from the nuclear bombardment the planet received," Wally replied and turned to his system.

Laura continued to fire at the larger groups of Cylons, leaving the smaller ones to the ground forces.

"I have all ships on line," Wally reported.

"This is Captain Laura Jones of the Battlestar _Providence._ I want you all to start taking on as many civilians as you can. You're also to raid the port commissaries for as much supplies as you can. If you don't have enough people, draft them. But you need to hurry. I'm not sure how much time we'll have to get as many people as we can off the planet before more toasters arrive. When you're loaded with food, fuel, water and civilians, you will lift off; I'll supply you with coordinates for where to jump. Once there, you'll obey Commander Lin of the Battlestar _Providence_ as if your life depends on it, because it does. Any colonial forces listening to this message, you are to help the ships to prepare and lift off. We have lost this battle, so we must fall back and regroup, but to do so, we need as many of our people as possible. Now get going, Raptor 374632 out!" she said as she flew along the battlefield.

Coming to a hover, she turned the craft slowly, ripping more of the metal abominations to shreds and then flew back and landed at the main port. The thousands of people had stopped running when she had appeared. Laura opened the hatch, and stepped out on the step. Taking the handset, she turned the external speakers on.

"People of my home world, you must stop this insanity!" she said quietly into the handset. Above her, the speakers blared out her message and the people slowed what they were doing and looked at the colonial warrior.

"What can we do? They're murdering everyone!" someone shouted.

"This is what you do. You see those liners over there?" Laura said as she pointed at the graceful ships.

"Yes!" came the reply.

"Go to them, and board them. They will get you out of here, but you must behave. Anyone who abuses their fellow civilians will be left behind. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" she snarled into the handset.

When the people nodded she added, "Good. Now anyone who can fly Raptors, we need you to head over to the guard facility and start powering up the Raptors and other FTL capable ships there. Now go, and may the Lords of Kobol watch over us."

Around the craft, the civilians stopped pushing and started helping their comrades to the waiting ships while marines and army personal started loading the many ships. Laura lifted off again, and started flying CAP around the spaceport, using her cannons to help suppress the enemy as the survivors broke away to the ships. As each ship was loaded it started lifting off. Wally sent them the coordinates and they started spooling up their FTL drives for the jump.

Laura looked at the twelve liners of the Libran Passenger service that had lifted off and were floating over the port. "Wally, tell them to hurry up and jump," she ordered as she fired at a group of ten Cylons using a truck for cover.

"I am, they said they can jump in two minutes," he replied.

"Good," she said as she fired one of her last missiles and it hit what looked like a tank advancing down the street with twenty Cylons hanging on its side. It exploded into ruin as more ships lifted off. Her mind registered that there were eleven freighters, three flattops, two small botanical cruisers, two tugs, several barges and fifty Raptors in the air at one time. Wally sent the coordinates again and the ships started jumping as their FTL drives hit minimum power. On the ground, the Cylons had reformed and were advancing again as Raiders started coming in from the distance.

Grabbing her handset, Laura snapped into the set, "Get out of here!"

The fifty Raptors turned and air-to-air missiles started flying from their launchers at the hundreds of incoming Raiders. Then the Raptors jumped as the rest of the evacuation ships followed. On the ground, the remaining marines and army personal fell back to an old _Ironwood _class military freighter and it lifted off. The museum ship started flying north along the coast as it gained altitude. Raiders started raining cannon shells down on the armored ship and explosions started detonating off its armor as it climbed to escape the planet.

"Jump, you frakken idiot," Laura snarled as she watched the ship under heavy attack.

"They are waiting on their FTL drive so they can jump," Wally reported.

"I know, she's old, and it will take a few minutes," she said as she dodged an incoming Raptor.

"_Hercules_ is under heavy attack, they report their engine room is on fire," Wally shouted.

"Who?" Laura asked as she started looking around.

"Behind us. She's a heavy lifter, course 229.2 degrees," Wally replied.

Laura jerked the ship around to the new course and in the distance she could see the heavy lifter under heavy attack. Shoving the throttle to full power she flew towards the ship firing her cannons at the attacking Raiders. The lifter had another ship clutched in its massive claws below it. The sleek long ship was all black with fleet markings, and she wanted to ask what it was but didn't.

The boxy little vessel was out classed and outgunned as dozens of Raiders turned on it.

"Tell them to jump. I'll hold them… frak that was close," she snapped as a burst of cannon fire ripped across her bow.

"Two more coming up behind us fast," Wally shouted out over the explosions.

"Tell them to dump their cargo and jump," Laura said as she did a back flip with the Raptor, and salvoed a pair of air-to-air missiles.

"Telling them now… _Hercules,_ Farmer orders you to dump your cargo and jump," Wally said.

The missiles streaked towards the incoming Raiders as they activated the CNP virus and was kicked out by the old program. The two missiles nose cones came apart and a dozen steel rods were ejected at mach three. The rods ripped through the Raiders like bullets and they exploded. Several that missed, hit a third ship coming in behind them and it went spinning off towards the ground to explode as the lifter jumped.

"Last ship is gone, can we please get the frak out of here?" Wally asked as he used the ships ECM gear to mess with the Raiders missiles.

"Shark, spin us up," Laura ordered.

"It's been spun up for ten minutes. Jump us for frak sake," Wally snapped.

"Jumping," Laura said as she typed a new set of coordinates for the FTL drive.

The ship vanished and appeared over a smaller continent, she was in a long valley, and she came to a hover over a small farm.

"Where the frak are we?" Wally shouted as he looked around for Raiders.

"My home," Laura said as she lowered the ship to the ground behind a large barn as the doors to the house opened

"Oh," Wally replied.

Laura shut down the Raptor and climbed out of her seat as people crowded out onto the veranda. Opening the door, she stepped down onto the ground and started walking across to the house.

She was looking at her mother and father and tears started running down her face as she took the flaxen haired woman into her arms and hugged her, "Hello Mama."

"Laura, you're alive!" Nancy Jones said to her daughter as she held her daughter at arm's length and looked at her.

"Yes, Mom. Mom, Dad, everyone, pack a single bag. You're all coming with us to the _Providence…"_

"Run? I don't run from the toasters. I didn't run from them in the last war, and I won't in this one," Donald Jones said as he interrupted his daughter.

"Dad, we lost. We have to run and find a new home. We're rescuing as many survivors as we can. Then we're leaving…"

"What about the fleet? We put billions of credits into building those damn Battlestars you love so much…"

"They're gone, or most of them are. The Cylons hacked the ships systems and shut them down. Most were destroyed without firing a shot or launching their fighters… Only two Battlestars survived that I know of, that's the _Destiny _and_ Providence_ of Battle Group 99 and even we suffered heavy casualties. Now please everyone, we have to go," Laura ordered.

"There are over thirty of us, surly that small craft of yours cannot hold all of us," her father asked.

Laura looked at her extended family and asked, "Dad, does the old guard base still have ships there?"

"Yes, a dozen Raptors, four shuttles and two small transports last I knew. I don't know if the Cylons have taken the base yet, but I doubt it. We haven't seen a sign of them here," he said.

"Ok then, then here's what we do. I want you all to load up into the vehicles. I'll scout for you and head down to the base. If it's clear, you come in and we'll get what we can up into the air. Pack as much food and supplies as you can," spotting her brother, she shouted to him, "Thomas, you're a pilot. You can fly a ship as well, so get over here.

As her brother came over carrying a small baby in his arms, she continued, "We need to go to the base and get the ships ready. The rest of the family will follow by land. When we get there, we need to hurry and get the ships airborne. I'll have Wally here preprogram all FTL drives with the jump coordinates and then we'll take off. Once in the air, you jump. Don't wait for any of the other ships. Do you understand me?"

"Sure do, Sis," Thomas said as he handed his son off to his wife who came up to them.

"Good, let's go. Dad, Thomas, you're with me, along with anyone else who can fly," she said and she turned and walked to her ship.

Behind Laura, the two men turned to their families who were busy loading the farm trucks with supplies, and luggage as more vehicles pulled into the farmstead. Laura watched as her dad ran over to the vehicles and started talking to the men and women in the cars. When finished, two people climbed out and they slapped the roofs of the cars. They ran for the Raptor as the trucks turned around and sped off down the road and out the gates.

"Laura, I'm sure you remember Jason and Tina Astons?" Donald said as they joined them at the Raptors.

Laura hugged her best friend Tina and then her old boyfriend as she replied, "Damn right I do. How you two doing?"

The twins looked at their old time friend and replied, "We're surviving. What's happening with the fleet?"

"Gone, get in," she said as she climbed in followed by her family and friends.

Last in craft was Wally and then they were airborne, heading down the road at treetop level. Flying over the small village of Butte, they saw panic and destruction as the town's people looted the buildings around the town as they turned to the airbase ten miles up the road. People were pointing up at the Raptor and cheering as they went out of sight, while the looters started firing guns at the craft.

"Dad, I hope everyone is taking the back way to the guard station," Laura asked as she came to a hover a mile from the station and did a quick look around. On the road below them at the crossroad, two cargo trucks were burned out wreckage.

"They are, they are taking Appleton Road to highway 365 to Baker Avenue and the back gate," Don replied as he came forward and knelt beside his daughter.

"Good," she replied and picked up her mic, "This is Raptor 374632 to Butte guard station, please respond."

"This is station Butte, please authenticate or be shot down," came the reply.

"Sending now," Laura said as she reached over and sent her ship's recognition code.

"Received and authenticating… good to see you Raptor 374632 what can we do for you?"

"Prepare to receive civilians at the back gate. All craft are to be ready for evacuation from the colony by order of Admiral Laurence," Laura said.

"Evacuate? Over a few toasters? Never," came the reply.

"Be advised, that the fleet has been wiped out. Only a few warships remain along with a few hundred civilian craft. We are leaving the colonies. You can stay and die or come and live. That is your choice, but we are taking all your craft for civilian evacuation," Laura ordered.

"That bad? We had over a hundred Battlestars. How?" the voice asked.

"Sabotage! The Cylons hacked the CNP systems and shut all of them down and then blew them up. Of the support ships and lighter units in the fleet, no idea on them," Laura replied as she headed for the base and came to a hover. She spotted army personal manning their positions, but two items caught her attention. One was the cargo ship with eight heavy pods attached to it, and the other was an army assault transport parked next to two _Spruance_ class shuttles.

Three men walked out of a tent and headed their way as she lowered the Raptor to the ground.

Opening the door, she stepped out and saluted the two-star general who came to a stop and looked at them.

"Young lady, who the hell are you?" the man said as she saluted him.

"Sir, I'm Captain Laura Jones code name Farmer from the Battlestar _Providence,_ sir, we need to get all of your troops, and supplies aboard your ships. Once airborne, you will get the FTL coordinates for the jump so you can jump and join the fleet," Laura said as she lowered her arm.

"General Mike Lancet, Colonial Army. You say we're evacuating the colonies. Where are we going?" he asked.

"No idea, we want to get far away from the colonies, leave the Cylons behind and find a new home. It's all we can do, radiation count is going up on the planet, and soon it will be to toxic for all of us," Laura replied.

"Then we're going to need lots of medicine, in the next valley is the pharmaceutical company Lionel, and its run by my sister. They make tons of medical supplies there, they also build the _Comfort _class medical ships at the shipyard as well," General Lancet said.

"General, have your people start loading everything we can use on the base. What we can't take, set it to be destroyed, one thing we need is missiles, so if you have them, please pack them. Now, when the civilians get here, load them as well. We're taking a trip over there," Laura replied as she thought of the supplies they could get.

"You're on. Captain Wallace, you know the job, get it done. Also, empty the supply bunkers of all those ready to eat meals… yes I know they taste like crap, but they will keep us alive. We'll be back, Sergeant Bold, you're with me," Mike ordered as he looked at the two men with him.

"Yes, Sir, and I'll have your aide move your stuff back to your cabin," Captain Wallace said, saluted and ran off shouting orders.

"Follow me, Sir," Laura said as she headed back to the Raptor and shouted, "Thomas, stay here and help out. Our people are going to need to see someone they recognize when they get here."

"You got it sis," Thomas said and limped off after the Captain.

"Everyone else, get aboard the ship, we lift off in one minute," Laura ordered as she scrambled in and sat down in the pilot's seat. General Lancet sat down in the empty copilot's seat.

"Sealed," Wally said as he sat down.

"Lifting off," Laura said and hit the afterburners.

Laura flew the Raptor quickly towards the mountains, she hopped up and over them and in the distance, a large plant sat on the bank of the river, just north of it, was a pair of large gantries for ship construction. Situated south of the factory were several towns with lots of houses and businesses. Coming over the first town, they saw a missile stuck in the ground and scattered around the town's sidewalks and roads were bodies.

"Frakking toasters used chemical weapons," General Lancet said as he looked out the window.

"Bastards," Laura said

She turned and headed for the shipyard, and came to a hover. Sitting on the main runway were three _Comfort_ class medical ships, two with freighters. Around them, hundreds of people were loading them with supplies from the warehouses and semi trucks that were being backed up to them. In the gantry were two more _Comfort_ medical ships and they looked like they were almost completed.

"Frakking A, they're loading them," General Lancet said as Laura brought the Raptor down.

Shutting down, Wally had the door opened while they climbed out. Sergeant Bold was standing on the wing of the Raptor with his rifle at port arms as a dozen people started walking towards them. As Laura and the General stepped out, a blond woman stopped and then started running towards the Raptor shouting.

"Mike! Thank the lords you're ok," she said and jumped into her brother's arms.

"Angela, I'm glad you're ok, what about your kids?" he asked.

"Fine, they were here with me at work on a kid's tour when the attack happened. Mike, everyone is dead in the outer towns. Some type of biological attack by the toasters…"

"We know, we saw, now, what's the status of your ships?" Mike asked.

"Fueled and almost loaded. Except for the _Console_, and _Relief _over in the gantries, we don't have enough crew for them, well we have crew, just no pilots," she replied.

"We have pilots, get them loaded," Laura ordered.

"Who are you?" Angela asked.

With a sigh, Laura replied, "Captain Laura Jones, Colonial forces, stationed aboard the Battlestar _Providence_… What the frak?" she said as she pulled her pistol and pointed it at the woman who walked up.

"What are you doing? That's Maria Hastings, she is one of my kid's teachers," Angela said.

"She's a fraking Cylon agent we killed two of them on the _Destiny _and _Providence._ Both of them murdered half the crews of our ships. Don't move BITCH, OR I BLOW YOUR FRAKKING HEAD OFF!" she snarled as the woman made a step to her left.

"What's going on? Angela you know me, I've been teaching here for three years, I love your kids like they were my own," she said with a quiet voice.

Before anyone could move, she reached out, yanked Sergeant Bold's weapon from his hand and was turning it on the humans when Laura fired one round. She flew backwards, dead before she hit the ground. Laura walked up to the corpse and spit on it.

"Frakking toasters! Listen up everyone, we don't have much time. We don't know how she was reporting to her friends or if they're on the way here. So let's get the ships loaded, and ready for launch. Jason, Tina, you are both in command of those two medical ships. As soon as you're loaded, get airborne. Wally will supply you with the coordinates to jump to. Now hear this everyone, where we're going, we must conserve power, so interior lights will be dimmed, and all viewing windows closed. Now let's GO!" Laura yelled at the stunned people.

"MOVE IT! YOU HEARD THE CAPTAIN!" General Lancet said through the bullhorn he took from one of the men using it to direct people to the ships.

People jumped at the super loud voice and scattered to finish loading the ships. Within minutes trucks were heading for the two medical ships in the gantries while peopled started going aboard the others. Two large containers were brought out on a flatbed system and hoisted up onto the freighter and locked down.

"What are those containers?" Laura asked.

"Pharmaceutical chemicals so we can make more medicines. We packed both with everything we make. The two middle containers had been commissioned and converted into hydroponics bays for a special customer. The bottom four containers are loaded with freeze-dried foods, frozen foods, and canned foods. We raided several supermarkets in the nearby towns. The other two are bandages, and medical equipment we manufacture. Those were already loaded and were meant to be delivered to the Scorpion Shipyards for the new _Nova_ Class Battlestar under construction there," Angela reported.

"How many people do you have," Laura asked.

Six thousand company personal, their families and several hundred survivors. Roughly eleven thousand people," she said.

"Frak me! Well, get them loaded up. Also, if you can, move those six medical shuttles, two heavy lifters, and ten Raptors into their landing bays," Laura ordered.

"Already planned it. We just didn't know where we were going to go, now we do," Angela said and reached over and pulled one of her helpers over and whispered in his ear. He nodded and took off running.

Fifteen minutes after killing the Cylon, the first ship, the _Mercy_ lifted off, activated her FTL and vanished along with the freighter _Franklin_ _Lionel._ _Repose _followed along with the _Console_ and _Relief_ as they lifted off from the gantries. The last two ships continued to load personal, and supplies when Wally shouted from the Raptor. The last ship was revealed behind the gantries; it was the _Lionel_ Corporation's small liner they used for their head people.

"Farmer! Incoming ships, ETA fifteen minutes."

"All right, contact the base and tell them," Laura shouted back.

"Already did, they're jumping now. Everyone has shown up including a lot of farmers with livestock. They're trying to figure out where to put sixty cows and two thousand chickens, chicks and hundreds of eggs in incubators from the chicken hatchery."

"Cows? Chickens? We don't have room for them. Tell them to leave them," Laura shouted as she started running for her Raptor.

Behind her, the last Raptor was towed up into the _Expectation's_ landing bay. As she started lifting off, the _Laura Lionel_ lifted off and both ships vanished as she turned towards the base in the other valley.

"I have radiological signatures," Wally shouted as his equipment started going crazy.

"Tell them to take off, leave everything else," Laura replied as she pulled the nose of her craft up and shot straight up into the air.

"They're lifting off and jumping now. Captain Wallace reports they left nothing behind of value, even the Raptors are fully loaded with as many children and women from Butte. The men say if you can come back, come, but don't endanger their families," Wally reported.

Behind them there was a bright flash of light and the canopy polarized. When it cleared, Laura looked behind them and saw the massive mushroom clouds forming over her hometown and the nearby valley towns. Tears ran down her face as she said, "FTL?"

"Ready," Wally said and then added, "I'm sorry for your home."

"Thanks, jumping." 

_**First Edited by Bill Lewis**_

_**Final Edit By TeNderLoin**_

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Battlestar Sword and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2010.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Twins of BG-99**

**CSAR**

(Combat search and rescue is search and rescue operations that are

carried out during war that are within or near combat zones)

**Chapter Three**

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years....**

**Until Now.**

**Raptor 32452:**

**Five hours after attack:**

**BG-08 Patrol station:**

Captain Jimmy 'Fisherman' Switch brought his Raptor in close to the wreckage of the three Battlestars of BG-08. Ahead of him was the bow, part of the midsection and the starboard flight pod. Turning his head he said, "Snack Bar, anything on Dradis?" he asked his ECO, Chief Matthew Books.

"Nothing but us, the remains of BeeGee eight, and a couple of dozen drifting Vipers," Matthew replied as he looked at a Viper floating about fifty meters off the port side.

In the distance was the starboard landing bay, all three support pylons, part of the inner hull, and the bow of the Battlestar _Intrepid._ The wreckage floated in the debris field of the battle.

"Ok. Time to send for the haulers," Jimmy said and activates his radio.

Off to his left was Raptor 27891 piloted by Lieutenant Jody 'Plant Girl' Tycoon.

"Plant Girl, go get the haulers and get them back here. We're going to check out the remains of the _Intrepid,"_ Jimmy said.

"Ok, Jimmy, stay sharp, be right back in ten," Jody said as her ship vanished into FTL.

"We're checking the _Intrepid_ out?" he asked.

"Yes, there could be survivors on that hulk, and damned if I'm leaving them to die," Jimmy said as he brought his Raptor up the side of the remains of the bow. Directly ahead of them was an emergency escape door, so he turned the shuttle over onto its side and drifted. Using the thrusters, he latched on and Jody turned to deck plate in the bottom of the inside of the ship and lifted it out of the way to reveal another hatch.

Sealing their suits, Jimmy reached down and typed the commands into the emergency escape hatch computer. It slid back revealing the blackened armor of the flight pod and the access hatch to the pod. Typing a quick emergency entrance code, it slid open and he shined his light down into the dark tube.

"Follow me, but keep your rifle ready," Jimmy said as he hung an emergency power/tool kit over his shoulder. He then started descending until he reached the bottom and stepped off the ladder.

Matthew followed his boss, and stepped down beside him, raising the rifle, he waited as he checked the power for the inside hatch cover and then hooked up an emergency kit to the computer and cycled it open. The door opened, and their HUD built into the helmet showed a viable atmosphere inside.

"We have air, but keep you suit sealed just in case," Jimmy ordered.

"Yes, Sir. Do you really think anyone is alive in this hulk?" Matthew asked as they stepped out.

"Possible, she still has air. If they survived the explosion of the rest of the ship, then there is a good chance. Let's check out the pilot's lounge, and then the bay," he replied and started walking down the passageway.

They kept near the starboard bulkhead, and walked about fifty feet. They passed dozens of empty compartments, and walked around the corner where they stopped and stared at a dozen covered bodies lying on the deck plate. They had what looked like bed sheets draped over them.

"Someone is still alive…"

"Or was," Matthew said as they looked at the bodies.

"Yeah, or was," Jimmy replied as they started walking again. They were passing more and more bodies as they headed for a dim light down at the far end of the hallway.

"If memory serves me right, that's the pilot's lounge," Jimmy said as they passed three more bodies.

"Freeze you frakking bastards, and drop the weapons," came a voice behind them.

Jimmy and Matthew froze where they were, as Matthew lowered the weapon to the deck.

"Look, we're human," Jimmy started to say.

"Shut up," the voice said into Jimmy's ear.

"Look we're… uhhh," Jimmy gasped out as he hit the floor hard.

"I said don't frakking move!"

The marines cuffed the two pilots and dragged them down to the lit the room and tossed them onto the hard shell seats. Jimmy was the first to turn around and look up at the snarling colonial marines. A rifle was shoved against his temple and a voice said from behind him.

"Who the frak are you?"

"Captain Jimmy Switch, call sign Fisherman. We're assigned to Battlestar _Providence._ This is my ECO, Chief Matthew Books, call sign 'Snack Bar'. Commander Lin is having us check all patrol sites for supplies, crew and equipment for the 'Twins.'"

"The Twins?" the marine asked as he walked around to look at the two officers.

"Yes, Sir. The Battlestars _Destiny_ and _Providence,_ both survived the attack, but are damaged. We lost a lot of crew, so we're looking for more crew to help man our ships. Right now CSAR craft and heavy lifters are on the way here," Jimmy said desperately as his eyes stayed on the barrel of the gun.

"Release them," the man said.

"Sir? They could be pirates or working for those frakking Cylons," the sergeant stated.

"No, while you were capturing them, I checked out their Raptor. Its computer states it is stationed aboard the Battlestar _Providence._ So how did your ships survive?" the Marine colonel asked as he sat down.

"Sir, it was luck. When the attack happened, one of the bridge crew realized what was going on and fried the network. So we still had guns, and maneuverability. We just couldn't launch our small craft because of the CNP virus. The _Providence_ had undergone a major refit, more weapons had been added to the gun decks, so when the Cylons attacked, we swatted them out of space like flies. We even made one of their baseships run with heavy damage, and the second was destroyed," Jimmy replied as he rubbed his wrists.

"What about the rest of the fleet?"

"We don't know who else survived, one thing we need is a new long range antenna for the ship. Both of ours were destroyed, and we're out of touch with any other fleet assets," Jimmy said as he stood up and looked around, "Colonel how many people do you have left?"

"Sorry, I'm Colonel Isaac Ranchen, Colonial Marines, and as to crew, we have two hundred and eight-seven crewmen and ninety-six pilots and ECOs from this pod. The pilots were having a birthday party for the CAG when everything started shutting down, including the bulkheads that separated the ship into sections. While we were trying to figure out what was going on, we were hit with several nukes on the other side, which blew the ship apart," he said.

"Shit, well, let's go meet the rest of your people and get everyone ready to evacuate," Jimmy replied.

"Follow me, they're on the hangar deck," Isaac said and started walking away.

Jimmy and Matthew followed and they walked down to the hangar and out onto the bay and were shocked when they saw the wounded lying on pallets. A lot of them seemed to have bandages on their heads, or arms and legs in splints.

"All we had were the Raptors emergency kits. Of the four hundred survivors, over half have broken arms or legs. We have ten with severe concussions and need to be seen by a doctor," Isaac said when he saw the look on their faces.

"Shit, well let's see what we can do… You have Raptors and Vipers in flight condition?" he asked.

"We have forty-seven Vipers, and twelve Raptors, but we can't launch any of them due to they won't run. How did you get yours working?" he asked.

Jimmy turned and said, "Matthew, run back to the ship and get the old copy of the CNP. That way we can get them up and running."

"Yes, Sir," he replied and turned and started running down the hall.

"Private Law, go with him," Isaac ordered.

"Yes, Sir," the young marine said and took off after the ECO officer.

Jimmy watched as they ran out of sight and then turned to Isaac, and said, "Now, as soon as she gets back, we get your ships up and running. It only takes a few minutes to wipe the hard system and restore a new copy. Now, where is your CAG?"

"He's one of the men with a concussion, I'm in charge right now," he said.

"Ok, then let's get your people organized," Jimmy said and then stopped as he saw the woman kneeling beside the wounded. "Colonel, you have a Cylon here."

"What? Where?" Isaac said as he looked around for a toaster and didn't see one.

"That woman, over there kneeling beside the wounded is a frakking toaster. We had one that looked like her on our ship, she murdered our CIC crew," Jimmy said as he started walking over to her.

"How is he?" he asked when he came to a stop.

"He has a concussion, and a broken arm," Private Laura Colt replied as she stood up and turned around. She froze when she saw the gun inches from her face.

"Don't frakking move you Cylon bitch!"

"What? What are you talking about?" she said as her eyes darted around.

"Hands on your head! Now!" Jimmy screamed at the woman.

"Ok, just don't shoot me, please," she replied as she raised her hands and started to place them on her head.

Jimmy watched the woman do as he ordered, and then the colonel stepped behind her and started to cuff her. She started to move. Jimmy slashed his pistol onto her side of head, and she hit the deck, stunned.

"Cuff and bind this bitch, and gag her. Drag her down the hall, and stick her in a room by herself. I don't want to hear her lies," Jimmy snapped in anger.

Before the woman could move, four marines grabbed her and had her cuffed and hogged tied. She was dragged down the hall and tossed into a small room. Two marines stopped and stood on each side of the door as the rest walked away.

"Are you sure she is a Cylon?" Colonel Ranchen asked.

"Positive. I watched the video of one of them shooting our bridge crew before the commander killed her. Now, tell your people to start gathering as much supplies as you can here on this deck. As ships dock, we'll transfer the wounded, then the munitions and food. Heavy lifters will be used to snag the Vipers as we eject them from the launch tubes…"

"How the frak are you going to do that? We don't have any power to the maglifts," a deck chief asked as he walked over.

"One of the shuttles is bringing two generators so we can power up the area. We won't need main computers for that. These generators can plug right into the power sockets and have their own computers to run them," Jimmy replied as Matthew came back to the room with a data stick in her hand.

"Matthew, get to work on the Raptors, they should…" the sound of several ships docking to the hull was heard and he smiled, "Are here I gather."

"I was just going to tell you that. Shuttle one is docking to the landing bay hatch now, they said they should have power in here very quickly so we can get these birds out of here. Heavy lifters are snagging all the disabled Vipers out in the field and jumping with them now," she replied.

"Good," Jimmy said as the hatch opened and he smiled as the CAG stepped out.

"Anyone here call for a lift?" Captain Mike 'Wishbone' Davidson asked.

"Wishbone, it's good to see you. We have a lot of wounded, and lot of supplies for us to take home," Jimmy replied as he saluted his boss.

"Good, we need all of it. Plant Girl said you have a bunch of Vipers and Raptors here, as well," he replied. When Jimmy nodded his head, he shouted out, "Ok, listen up everyone. Pack your kits and your wounded friends' kits as well. The kits and wounded go on Shuttle two, all ammo and supplies go on the _Lucky_ when she docks. For now, stack it up here, because she is pulling your bow heavy missiles right now into her magazines. When she's finished, it will be our turn. Now Heavy Hauler one and two brought four empty Tylium fighter refuelers with us. They will dock to the bay's external fuel transfer stations and start siphoning all remaining fuel.

"Raptor pilots and ECOs as soon as your ships are up and running, you will be loaded up with as much supplies as you can get aboard. Then you'll be given the coordinates of where we're hiding. You will launch and jump immediately to the _Providence_ and _Destiny_, and land. Do I make myself clear?" he shouted and the survivors replied with a loud yes.

The clang of a second shuttle attaching to the pod in the forward part of the bay had the marines carrying the wounded to the hatch. As soon as it opened, they started carrying the men and women inside and setting them on the racks. Baggage kits started flowing in as well as all the bedding, towels and uniforms from the other lockers. The starboard side canteen was emptied as well. Anything and everything of value was taken and loaded into the second shuttle as the knuckleheads from the _Intrepid_ tied the power supply into the flight pod.

With the power restored, the lifts came operable and the starboard pod galley was emptied of all supplies, from spices to pots to canned goods, it all went into bags and boxes to be carried to the Raptors and loaded. While this was going on, eighty thousand gallons of Tylium was unloaded to the tankers, and they were picked up by the Heavy Lifters and taken home along with the Vipers that were recovered.

As soon as shuttle one left, the _Lucky_ docked to the flight pod. Two hundred marines and crew personal of the _Lucky_ flooded into the ship, and with their help. Every missile and bullet in the Pod's magazines, and remaining gun magazines were emptied and carted to the flight bay and stacked. Missiles went first followed by the remaining ammo with the help of the survivors and the munitions were quickly loaded into the ship. Outside of the ship, six armed Raptors watched for any sign of the enemy to appear.

Two hours after docking, the last of the ammo was loaded along with the food supplies. The survivors were starting on the small tool kits that had been packed up and carried over as well as boxes of replacement boards and parts for the Vipers and Raptors. The last Vipers were jettisoned and snagged by the Heavy Lifters when the alarm sounded. They quickly jumped away, as a single Raider appeared and headed for the debris field.

**Raptor 3879**

**Lieutenant Martin 'Drinker' Thunder**

Martin watched as the Raider came in and flew past his shutdown Raptor. He watched the Raider heading for the remains of the Intrepid and he powered up his Raptor and took off after it, firing his cannons. Shells started tearing chunks out of the enemy craft and it started banking trying to get away. That's when the other Raptors powered up and they caught it in a cross fire of cannon fire and it exploded.

"Did it transmit?" Martin shouted to his ECO.

"I don't know. But I think we should get out of here," Chief Walter 'Fester' Torrance said.

"Fester, I agree with you," Martin said and picked up the microphone, "This is Drinker to all rescue craft, abort salvage operations and get the frak out of here. We just destroyed a Cylon Raider. We're not sure if it sent a signal out, so I advise you to stop all rescue and salvage operations."

"This is Wishbone, we hear you. Last of the supplies are going aboard the shuttle now. _Lucky_ is breaking seal as we speak. Spin up your FTL and prepare to jump," came through the headset.

"Yes, Sir, preparing to jump," Martin replied as he broke the connection and said, "You heard the boss. Spin the drive up."

"Already did," Fester replied as he watched the Dradis board.

**Starboard Flight Pod:**

**Battlestar Intrepid:**

Wishbone hung the handset up, and stepped back into the ruined bay. Looking at the tired men and woman he shouted, "Listen up. Grab what you can, and get your asses onboard. Raptors just blew up a Raider, and I'm sure more are coming. We break seal in two minutes, with or without you. Launch the remaining Raptors NOW!"

Over on the maglifts the last four Raptors lowered to the flight deck and quickly left the ship as the rest of the survivors grabbed the remaining bags and boxes. Three men just tilted their dollies and carried their load right onto the shuttle as the marines grabbed their gear and headed for the two access points.

Fisherman and Snack Bar took off running down the hallway to the hatch where they had docked their Raptor to the side of the ship. Behind them, the lights went off as they turned the corner and stopped.

"What's wrong?" Snack Bar asked.

"I can't leave her there," Jimmy said.

He turned and ran back to where the prisoner was being held.

"Get the Raptor ready," he shouted as he went back around the corner and came to a stop at the door. Opening it, he saw the woman sitting there with tears running down her face.

"You want to live?" he asked the blond.

She nodded her head as he walked towards her.

"Then don't cause any problems, and do what I say, otherwise I'll leave you here to die," Jimmy snapped as he yanked her to her feet and lifted her up over his shoulder.

Running out the door, he ran towards his bird when the Lucky and the shuttle broke seal. The ship shivered when the seals broke and he could hear the hull groan from the strain. Stopping at the door he ducked in and closed it behind him. Looking up, he started climbing the ladder. Snack Bar reached down, grabbed the woman, and dragged her into the shuttle. Climbing in behind her, Jimmy turned and closed the hatch and then the Raptors hatch.

"Sit, don't move!" Jimmy snapped at the woman as she slowly sat down in one of the passenger seats.

"I'll watch her boss, but we need to get out of here. I have the FTL spinning up, as soon as we break seal, we can jump away. I also want to say, I don't think it's a good idea bringing her with us to the ship," he said as he pointed at the woman.

"That's why we're not taking her with us to the ship," Jimmy said and sat down in his chair.

"What?"

"You'll see," setting up the jump now," Jimmy said as a large flash in the distance was seen.

"Crap! A baseship and its launching! How long until we can jump?" Jimmy asked as he worked.

"Sixty seconds. Get us out of here!" Snack Bar shouted as he watched fifty smaller targets appear and start heading for them.

"Hang on to your pants," Jimmy said as he broke seal, flipped the craft over and flew up and over the wreckage of the flight bay.

He was heading directly away from the incoming Raiders at maximum speed. Behind him, the Cylons started firing into the remains of the Battlestar and it blew up when one of the Tylium tanks was hit. When the explosion cleared, they spotted the Raptor flying away from them and took off after it. The seconds counted down as the fighters started getting closer.

"Fifteen seconds and they're in range," Snack Bar shouted.

"How much time for FTL?" Jimmy asked.

"Eighteen seconds," came the reply.

"In range… now!"

Cannon shells started flying past their craft as Jimmy weaved it around to make it a harder target. Several rounds hit the left wing, but nothing important was damaged, as Jimmy reached out and touched the icon for FTL. The ship vanished and appeared three miles above a blue and white world. Below them, was a series of mountains and small towns, a large river ran through the valley.

"Where the frak are we?" Snack Bar asked as he looked at the planet.

"Gemenon, and that's the Genoa River below us," Fisherman said as he dropped to the deck.

He headed up river to the bridge he remembered so well and where he used to fish with his dad. They quickly reached the bridge, and he did a quick look around before landing on the four-lane bridge. Getting up, he walked to the back and opened the door.

With the door opened, he pulled the woman out and released her as Matthew covered them with his rifle.

"Before I let you go. Can I ask you a question?" Jimmy asked as the woman rubbed her wrists as she nodded her head.

"Why?" he asked.

"It was God's will," she said.

"Don't give me that crap. What God would want an entire civilization wiped out?" Jimmy snapped in anger.

"God wants a new beginning, a new beginning of life in the universe. Humans have failed every time, and now it's our turn," Laura replied.

"Lady, you're crazy. Now I don't know who you are, nor why you work for the Cylons. But know this; you won this battle… maybe even this war. We, the survivors are leaving these worlds. We're heading out there and never coming back. If you follow us, we will defend ourselves. I suggest you go your way, and let us go ours. Now start walking away, down that road about a mile you will find a rangers station. I'm sure you can call your friends from there," Jimmy said.

"Why are you doing this?" Laura asked.

"Because there's been enough death so far. Tell your leaders to leave us alone. You won, we are leaving this time," Jimmy said and climbed up the wing.

"We'll meet again Fisherman, and when we do, you will understand Gods work," she replied.

"We meet again, and one of us will die. Now remember what I said," Jimmy said as the door closed.

"Dradis contacts, five incoming," Matthew reported as he strapped in.

"I see them, its five Raiders, we're lifting off now. As soon as you can, input the coordinates for home and we're jumping," Jimmy replied as he pulled back on the stick and the ship lifted off.

"Already entered, can we go home now?" Matthew replied as they went under another bridge.

"In ten minutes," Jimmy replied as he flew up the canyon.

"What are you doing?" Matthew asked.

"Checking something," Jimmy replied as he came to a stop near a waterfall and then asked, "Dradis?"

"Five miles back, and coming strong."

"All I need," Jimmy said and used the thrusters to move into the water.

"What?"

"Shut up Snack Bar," as Jimmy concentrated and flew into a large cave on the other side of the water and landed.

Shutting down, he stood up and opened the door with Matthew following him. Taking a deep breath of air, Jimmy shined the light to the front of the Raptor and started walking. Three minutes of walking brought them to an elevator and he called it.

"What is this?" Matthew asked.

"Three hundred feet above us, is my home. I'm hoping my family is there. If so, I plan on getting them out… and remember I said I wanted to introduce you to Jessie. Well, she's been staying at the house with my wife and children. If they survived the attack, they'll be up above.

"We're over here, Jimmy," came a voice from the darkness.

Jimmy turned around and the light lit up his wife and two children.

"Elisa?" Jimmy said as he ran to her and took her into his arms as she started crying.

"You came? I didn't think you were coming," Elisa blubbered out as she cried.

"Sorry it took so long. Let's get you out of here and back to the ship," Jimmy said as he wiped her eyes.

"There's twelve of us. Can you take us all?" Elsie asked.

"What?" Jimmy asked as the lights came on and he saw his sister, and another couple, a beautiful red headed woman and six more children.

"You know the Clarks, and that's their daughter Nadia. This is Emma, our other neighbor; her husband is stationed aboard the _Atlantia_. The rest are friends of Lorraine's they were having a slumber party when the attack happened. We can't leave them. I asked the Clarks to watch the kids while Jessie and I tried to get to town to check on the other parents, but the Cylons killed everyone with poison gas. I came back to the house and we came down here after raiding the pantries of both houses.

"We brought as much stuff as we could use, and then watched on the monitor as the Cylons searched our house. We stayed down here all day while we waited for them to leave the area. When they left, we went back up, and Jessie and I went to each of the kid's houses and packed some clothes and personal items for them. We didn't see any Cylons the whole time. I think they'd moved on to the next town. We also didn't see any bodies on the second trip. Where they were taken, I have no idea.

We came home, sent the bags down here and then brought the mattresses from the beds down here. We barely made it in time, if Jessie hadn't looked out the window, we would have been caught. The Cylons came right to our house again and looked around… I'm not sure if you know it, but they have humans working for them. A man and four Cylons came into the house and looked around; he had a list and ordered the Cylons to tear the house apart looking for us. It's a good thing the floor of the garage hides the elevator shaft or we'd been caught. Oh! I have a picture of him on my storage drive…"

"Good, we'll need it. Listen everyone, gather what you want to take with you and follow us to our Raptor. We're leaving here," Jimmy said.

"I want my mom," a young girl cried and Jessie took her into her arms to let her cry.

"I know you do Jen; I know all of you do. But you saw what happened on the monitor. If we stay, we'll all die. Now I said my husband Jimmy would come for us, and he has. I wish I could give all you girls back your parents. I cannot. What I can do is become your surrogate mother, and Jimmy will become your surrogate father. Now let's go," Elisa said as she moved among the kids and started them carrying things to the Raptor.

Jimmy watched as his wife took charge of the children and their neighbors. Bags were packed in the storage compartment, and in the back of the Raptor. He then helped the children in and Matthew got them seated and strapped in. The Clarks followed their daughter and then Emma, Elsie and Jessie climbed in as Jimmy walked back to the items they were leaving and looked at the remaining items.

Seeing several bottles of Scorpion Brandy, he put them in another bag that he put his wife's shrink-wrapped wedding gown in along with the photo album, and some of Elisa's knick-knacks. The last items he picked up were his tackle box and his containers of rods and reels.

Carrying the items back to the Raptor, he slid them in and climbed in. As the door sealed behind him, he walked to the front and sat down.

"Jimmy, I have the FTL spooled up. We can jump as soon as we're out of here," Matthew reported.

"Good," Jimmy said as he looked at his wife, sitting in the copilot's chair and asked, "Ready?"

"No. This is my home… We'll never see it again," she softly replied.

"Our home is where we make it. The commander wants to find a new world, settle it and rebuild our civilization. Which we will do, because we have no choice and we have those children back there that need us," Jimmy replied as he powered up the engines, slowly turned around and headed down the tunnel and shot out of the waterfall.

They had just stated heading down river when shells started flying past them. Jimmy started weaving in the narrow cannon, ducked under some power cables and then a bridge as the countdown for the FTL drive counted down. Blasting around one of the bends, he almost threw the ship into hover when he saw four Raiders ahead of him launching missiles and cannon fire.

Three things happened at once, the count hit zero, Jimmy hit the FTL icon on his panel, and the missiles arrived to hit the Raptor.

Coming out of FTL, Jimmy dodged a derelict freighter and did a quick flip around another freighter. Ahead of him, the Twins sat side by side, sparks flaring off into space as the repair crews worked their butts off repairing the two massive ships. While around her, the derelicts were scavenged for parts that could be used and then more flashes started appearing as tens of ships started coming out of FTL.

"SHIT! It worked," Jimmy said in shock.

"What did?' Elisa asked.

"The rescues. Commander Lin sent Raptors looking for survivors on the colonies and out looking for supplies. Seems he found them," he said as the Battlestars took up flanking positions on the civilian ships. Jimmy saw repair ships, Tylium tankers, freighters, liners, yachts, FTL shuttles, what looked like a casino ship, Botanical cruisers, water ships, barges, more Raptors, tugs, medical ships, and what looked like an old military freighter from the first Cylon war.

"To all Raptors and Vipers, proceed to the nearest ship and dock with them. We will be jumping in thirty minutes. All Raptors and Vipers belonging to the _Destiny,_ please proceed to your ship. Raptors of the _Providence_ proceed to base and land. All Vipers of the _Destiny_ you have CAP at this time. That is all."

"Well, you heard the order, let's go home," Jimmy said as he headed for the starboard landing bay of the _Providence. _Jimmy called in and was given orders to land on Alpha deck.

Jimmy was about to land when three flashes caught his eye and he stared at three Firestar class frigates that had appeared. Tears started to well up at the corners of his eyes to see friendly fighting forces. Then four more flashes and four Gunstars appeared.

"Raptor 32452, break off, and go around!" came through Jimmy's headset.

Jerking his attention back to what he was doing, he saw he was heading up into the old number two landing bay. He pulled back on the stick and went up and over the armored top.

"Sorry about that, everyone," Jimmy said as he came back around and said into his microphone, "Raptor 32452 requesting readmission to the landing cycle to land on Alpha deck."

"Granted, Raptor 32452, please don't bust up my landing bay," came the reply.

"I won't, Chief," Jimmy said as he slipped back into line and watched as six Raptors slipped into the bay and then it was his turn as he lined back up and came in for a perfect landing and a dead stop on the maglift.

"Welcome home 32452, be advised the CAG wants to see you and Snack Bar ASAP."

"We're advised," Jimmy said and started shutting down the systems as the ship descended into the hangar.

**CIC **_**Providence:**_

Commander Lin watched as the ships appeared, already over seventy ships, and ten warships had been found and answered his call to reform. His CSAR teams had found survivors and supplies on a dozen destroyed Battlestars, but no command staff as of yet. It was as if the Cylons had gone after them in particular.

"Commander Lin, I need to speak with you," Captain Rita Planner said as she walked into the CIC.

"What is it Captain," Mathew asked as he turned from the Dradis board.

"There's another Battlestar out there. Who it is, I have no idea. We were sent to Libran and when we arrived, a Battlestar was fighting five Cylon baseships. Before I could contact them, they jumped. Sir, they had other civilian and colonial forces with them…"

"Are you sure?" Mathew asked as he picked up his handset.

"Positive, here are the Dradis scans," Rita said as she handed him the data stick.

Taking the stick, Mathew walked over to a spare computer system and brought the images up. It showed an _Atlas_ class Battlestar and an _Argentum Bay_ class cruiser holding off five baseships and several hundred Raiders. The two ships jumped after one of the baseships was destroyed and several hundred raiders with her. After the Colonial ships had jumped away, the Cylon baseships turned on the planet and nuclear fire rained down on the colony once again.

"Frak. We need to find out who they are, and catch up to them. An _Atlas_ has double the firepower and twice our standard Viper complement…"

"Sir, Colonel Howards reports they have twenty of the derelict ships up and running at minimum power. They just need more fuel," Lieutenant Olivia Jackson reported.

"We all need more fuel, where to get it? That's the question." Mathew said.

"Sir, what about Caprica Refinery?" Rita asked.

"It's probably destroyed in the attack."

"It's not, or that's what one of the _Destiny_ pilots said when they went to Caprica to rescue survivors. She said there was a base ship nearby, but the station was there with four large fleet tankers docked to her. The Cylons need fuel just like we do…"

"Really, hmmm," Mathew said as his mind started thinking.

"What sir?" Rita asked.

"Report to your Raptor," Mathew ordered as he picked up the handset and said, "Colonel Ranchen, please report to the CIC. Colonel Ranchen, please report to the CIC."

Five minutes after he had called for the Colonel, he was explaining the mission to him.

"Think it will work?" he asked.

"Yes, it can work, if we can get aboard. But we'll need crews for the ships. Plus we'll need more marines. Can I hit the ones scheduled to go to the _Destiny?_" Isaac asked.

"Yes, get going. Get your marines ready, and armed up. We launch in twenty minutes. I need to talk to Destiny first and set up a meeting place for the fleet," Mathew said as he reached for the handset.

"This is Providence Actual to Destiny Actual, come in."

"This is Destiny Actual, go ahead Mathew," came the reply.

"Andrew, I'm taking the _Providence_ on a mission to grab some fuel. Do you remember us talking about where to meet up if we were to get separated?" Mathew asked.

"I do. You want me to take the fleet there and wait for you?"

"Yes, also try and get some more of these ships up and running. You have the list of what we need for the fleet. Especially those botanical cruisers, and repair ships. I'll leave the warships here with you to help protect the fleet, and so you have a place to park those extra Vipers we have. Continue to send Raptors to the colonies and pick up survivors. If you can, use any of the spare heavy lifters as well with some of those passenger containers they can carry. That way they can carry about two hundred survivors each.

"Now, we still have three groups of rescue ships out there checking BeeGee thirteen, twenty-nine, and fifty's patrol areas. They should be reporting back soon, and when they do get back, get them loaded. I'm not sure how much longer we can hide in here. In fact, why not start sending the fleet to Alpha with the Gunstars as cover. Keep some of the ships here and when you get a ship online and running, send it to the fleet. The nebula should hide the fleet from Cylon sensors as well as keep them safe. Also, remember the radiation does something to the Cylons or it did in the last war, maybe it does the same to their spies and we'll know if we have more of them on board…"

"Good idea. We'll do that. Mathew… good luck and good hunting. Destiny Actual out," Andrew said and broke the connection.

Mathew changed the frequency to the ship intercom and said, "Men and woman of the _Providence._ We have a mission, a mission of survival for our species. To do this we need fuel, so we're going to go steal some of ours back. I want all Vipers loaded with full loads of missiles and ammo. Raptors, you're going to be our snatch teams. I want each of our Raptors loaded with marines. Also, the Raptors will have a full combat load as well. We need crews to man four fleet tankers, so I'm asking for volunteers to man the ships. Please report to the landing bays if you have experience running them.

"Now for the mission, people. We're going to the Caprica Refinery. Now as you know, these refineries are six million miles from the planet due to safety issues. The Raptors will launch before we jump. After we jump, you will wait sixty seconds and jump to the refinery's location. You will grab the tankers, get them online, and jump with them. Oh… and please make sure they're full.

"The _Providence_ will jump halfway between the refinery and the planet. We will turn to engage the baseship that's guarding the station. While we destroy that ship and her raiders, we will continue to draw the Cylons away from the station while you complete your mission. Do not sacrifice yourselves or your men. If it looks like you can only get one tanker, so be it. Good luck.

"Now hear this, set condition one throughout the ship. All hands man your battle stations. We are jumping in ten minutes," Mathew ordered and watched as the FTL counter was set to ten minutes.

The time slowly counted down as the _Providence_ took on two additional squadrons of Vipers and as her Raptors launched to get ready to FTL to their new coordinates. Inside the bays, the Vipers were refueled, and lined up with the maglifts so they could be quickly lifted up to the launch positions and launched.

Inside the ship, munitions were prepared, the guns loaded and the missiles armed for launch as damage control teams spread out through the massive Battlestar. In the CIC, the counter slowly flipped over from two minutes to one minute.

Mathew reached up and placed his hand on the key. As the counter hit 00, he turned the key, and the ship vanished.

_**First Edit by Bill Lewis**_

_**Final Edit By TeNderLoin**_

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Battlestar Sword and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2010.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Twins of BG-99**

**Tylium**

(Tylium a material used to fuel the propulsion systems of Colonial and Cylon spacecraft. Three forms are known of: tylium ore, refined tylium precursor,

and refined tylium (the fuel itself).)

**Chapter Four**

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years....**

**Until Now.**

**Between Caprica and the Refinery:**

**CIC **_**Providence:**_

Providence appeared and immediately her Dradis picked up the enemy baseship behind her. Turning towards Caprica, five more baseships started advancing on the giant Battlestar as her flight pods slid out and Vipers started launching in fours from each bay.

"Right rudder, take us away from the planet and the refinery. Vipers are to prepare for interception as we come around and hit the refinery baseship," Mathew said as he watched the icons.

"Baseships are launching missiles, estimated count four hundred in the first wave," Lieutenant Rick Anderson reported.

"Hard right rudder, fire flak rounds when in range. All rail guns target the Refinery baseship with all batteries that bear."

"Target in sight, all rail guns firing," Rick said and forty-eight rail guns fired a pair of solid rounds at the enemy baseship. The rounds flew through space and slammed into the central spiral of the enemy baseship and it vanished into a giant fireball as the armor piercing rounds exploded deep inside.

Vipers and Raiders started tearing into each other as the _Providence_ made a complete circle and fired on the closest baseship. The rounds hit one of the pylons and it went flying off into another direction.

"More raiders being launched, estimated count at eight hundred and climbing," Rick said as he looked at the numbers.

"Launch nuclear missiles and standard missiles. Target the incoming wave of Raiders. Proximity detonation only and spread the wave across the entire front. Tell our Vipers to be aware of nuclear missile launch," Mathew said as he watched the Dradis board.

"Sir, I am launching nuclear and non-nuclear missiles. Rail guns are being retargeted to baseship number two, secondary weapons firing flak rounds."

The ship shuddered as three missiles hit the portside near the forward pair of gun turrets. The explosion shattered both guns, and vented the area to space as the armor failed.

"Portside guns three and four out of commission. We have a hull breach at frame nine through eleven. The breach is forty feet long, twenty feet high and we have casualties," Chief Jenny Waters reported from her station.

"Seal the breaches, send repair teams to the guns, we need them online if possible. Rick, take that bitch out," Mathew ordered.

"Sir, Raptors going in, now!" Lieutenant Olivia Jackson reported.

"Thank you, let me know what they report," Mathew said as the ship shuddered again from another hit.

"Second baseship just jumped. Third and fourth are separating to try and flank us, the fifth is climbing above us to try and take us in a three prong attack."

"Show me," Mathew said and the Dradis screen changed to show the two base ships splitting wide apart and continuing to fire missiles while the third climbed.

"Turn us and take the left baseship under fire, angle us so the other two can't flank us," Mathew ordered.

"Yes, Sir," came the reply from navigation and weapons.

The sudden blinding flash of ten nuclear missiles detonating amongst the incoming raiders caught their attention. When the flash dissipated, over a hundred Cylon Raiders were gone, and dozens more were crippled.

**Caprican Refinery:**

**Colonial Marines:**

Colonel Ranchen led his Marines down the long hallway that was covered in the debris of war. Shell casing, blood and torn cloth littered the floor in their wake. The station was quiet, too quiet, as they passed through the galley and kitchen. Stopping at the door, he checked his map. He saw his target was two hundred meters up on his right. Hearing a noise from the left, he peeked and saw a Cylon walking away from him. It was dragging two bodies with it.

'_Frakking toasters!'_ he thought, as it went around a corner.

Looking at his men, he held up four fingers, and pointed at four of his men. Then he pointed to the right and held his two fingers up and then a closed fist twice.

The men nodded their heads, slipped around the corner, and were gone as he walked down the hall, which the Cylon had used. Hearing a click on his radio, he sent four more of his men and then stepped back around the corner as he heard the Cylon.

Seconds later, his men were back in the room as the sound of the Cylon came towards them, and then it turned the corner. It was walking up the passageway, and went past the door. Ranchen stepped out quietly, with his silenced rifle raised. Even though he made no noise, the machine started to turn and he fired a burst of armor piercing rounds into its head, and it hit the deck sparking and smoking.

"Drag it into the room and stash it behind the overturned tables," he ordered and four of his men leaped to obey his orders as he watched the passageway.

"Captain Hanson, take your people and get going. Whatever you do, protect those ship crews. Captain Marlin, you and your team are to head for the main pump room, when you take the room, start pumping fuel into those ship tanks. The system should tell you if they're not full. I'll take my crew to the main computers.

"If all goes as planned, we should have this station, and all the fuel we'll need, for years. Remember, each of those tankers we saw contains enough fuel for twenty Battlestars. We're taking all four ships with us, or I'm going to want to know why," Isaac said as he led his team around the corner to the left and headed for the main computer room.

Ten minutes after separating, they came to a stop down the hall from the control room. Isaac slid along the wall to the door and using a small camera connected to a tiny monitor, he looked inside through the small window in the door. Several Cylons were standing around the room while what looked like the twin convention worked in the room. Four of the women looked like Private Laura Colt who was left back on the remains of the _Intrepid_ while the others were two black males, and two that looked like workers because of the coveralls they were wearing.

Turning to his men, he whispered to them. Six Cylon robots and eight of them human clones are in the room. Capture the clones, but be careful, they're fast, if you have no choice and have to kill them, that's ok. But we need intelligence, so try and take some of them alive. Squad One will go through these doors. Squad Two, you take the other door, and be quiet.

Isaac watched as the men and women got ready and then raised his hand. With his gun up, he shoved the door opened and they poured into the room firing. The first four Cylons went down under a hail of bullets as the remaining two opened fire. Four of the Marines went down dead and two wounded as the remaining Cylons opened fire. The human looking ones ran to engage the Colonial Marines, and Isaac started kneecapping them as his men took out the rest of the Cylons. When the last of the Cylons were down, the human clones raised their hands in surrender.

"Gag and bind them. If these traitors give you any problems… kill them," Isaac said as the work crews came into the room and sat down at the computer systems. They started to reboot them, but were surprised that they were working.

"Sir, I am filling all five tankers now…"

"Five? There were only four that I saw," Isaac said.

"One is in the internal landing bay. She's not a tanker but an ore carrier. I am dumping all the ore back into the ship so we can take it with us. That way it can be processed later. There are also three fleet tankers here, I have sent a message to the shuttle and they report that they are sending over the backup crews to take them," Chief Walter Devin replied.

Isaac looked over at the old deck hand from the _Intrepid_ and nodded his head. Turning back to the prisoners, he said, "Bandage their wounds and take one of each to the Raptors. We want to question them later when we get back to the ship…"

"Sir, the Prov… I mean the ship is taking damage. They report they can't hold the enemy off much longer," Chief Devin reported.

"No problem," Isaac said and turned to the human prisoners, "Ok, I don't care if you're working for the Cylons or not. I just want one answer. How many toasters are on the station?"

"Go ahead and kill us now. We know you will," the number six said with scorn in her voice.

"No, I'm not going to kill you, my pretty. But I will hurt one of your friends if you don't tell me. After what your masters did to our worlds, I am quite pissed. They killed a lot of good people in their attacks, now tell me what I want to know," Isaac snarled in the girl's face.

"You don't scare us. We will prevail in the end…"

Isaac turned and walked over to one of the men sitting on the floor. His left leg was bandaged at the knee.

"Tell me," he snapped at the clones.

"God will save us!" the woman said.

"Your last answer?" he asked.

She nodded her head and looked away.

Isaac raised his right foot and brought it down on the man's wounded knee. He screamed out in agony as his knee was smashed into the deck plate. He started withering and trying to get away from the men holding him.

"TELL ME!"

"Stop, you're killing him!" the six said.

"I'll do more!" Isaac replied, as he pressed again on the damaged knee joint.

"Please! Stop!" she said after listening to her comrade screaming.

"Tell me!"

"I… frak you!" she said and yanked her hands apart. The cuffs snapped and she started to get up when she was shot in the shoulder. She went over backwards and landed on the deck as the rest of her people snapped their cuffs.

Guns started going off as the humanoid Cylons attacked. When it was over, all of them were down, and so were six more Marines.

"Frak!" Isaac said as his men checked on the Marines. Two were dead, and the other four were stunned.

"Sir, why are they smiling?" Chief Devin asked.

"I don't know. Get pictures of them, and let's get the ships going…"

"Already done. The four tankers have broken seal and are moving away from the station. The three fleet tankers have left already and jumped. The ore hauler is filled and powering up her engines," Walter reported.

"Then set the demo charges and let's get out of here," Isaac replied as his men picked up their wounded and dead and headed for the door.

"Sir, Bravo team reports they rescued two hundred woman and fifty kids from the brigs. It seems the Cylons captured them when they took the station. They have been loaded onto the tankers," Lieutenant Sandra Helms reported as she stepped into the room.

"Good job, let's get out of here," Isaac said as they packed up their gear and headed for the Raptors.

The Marines started falling back, and that's when the toasters appeared and started attacking them. Several Marines went down dead, and had to be left behind because they couldn't be recovered. Deep in the station, systems came on and the unthinkable started happening, or would have been unthinkable if the humans had still been in charge.

Trunk lines opened and Tylium started pouring into the massive rooms of the refineries as gases from the holding tanks were bled into the rooms. As the Marines raced for the Raptors, the Cylons followed on their heels to kill them. Isaac pushed his Marines hard as the counter started counting down.

Isaac and three Marines were running down the long hallway, behind them they heard the Raptors breaking seal and exiting the stations emergency airlocks as well as the steady thumping of the Cylons metal feet on the deck plates. Turning the last corner, they saw two Marines kneeling by the hatch.

"Move it," Isaac said as he stopped poked his gun back around the corner as the three Marines ran with their wounded comrades on their shoulder.

The first Cylons came flying around the corner and he opened up with his automatic rifle. The high explosive armor piercing rounds caught the first two Cylons and they went down. But more were right behind them. The guns came up and a buzz saw of bullets came flying back at him.

Isaac pulled a grenade from his harness and tossed it around the corner. The fragmentation grenade exploded and he stuck his rifle around the corner and held the trigger down.

"Run Colonel!" was shouted from the Raptor.

Yanking another grenade, he tossed it and then pulled a second and dropped it at his feet. Smoke started billowing out as he turned and started running for the hatch. Bullets started flying past him as he neared the hatch and pain shattered his thoughts as he was hit in the right shoulder. He flew head first towards the hatch and came to a stop three feet from it.

"Go! Leave me!" he shouted as he reached for his rifle.

"Frak that!" came from the Marines and the raced out of the Raptor and grabbed their commander. Two of the men started firing back, just holding the triggers down on the fully automatic weapons.

Bullets were flying past as they each yanked a grenade and tossed them down the hall where they exploded. One of the Marines was hit in his head, and he flew backwards dead. His buddy turned, grabbed his friend's battle harness and dragged him inside the hatch.

The hatch slammed shut, as did the one for the Raptor. They broke seal just as the door was yanked off. Explosive decompression blasted the tiny ship away from the massive station and three Cylons were sucked out before emergency blast doors slammed shut on the deck.

"Send the code and jump us," Colonel Ranchen ordered.

"Yes, Sir," the ECO said as the pilot started to turn the key for the FTL drive.

**Battlestar **_**Providence:**_

**CIC: **

Commander Mathew Lin watched as his Vipers tore into the massive formation of enemy fighters. Behind them, the remaining three baseships tried to come in at the damaged Battlestar from three directions.

"Sir, message from Colonel Ranchen, operation Snatch is a success, see you at the rendezvous," Ensign Olivia Jackson reported.

"Good! Recover all Vipers. Fire flak rounds into those mass of enemy Raiders and spin up the FTL," Lin ordered.

"FTL spinning up. Vipers are coming home on full afterburner. Combat landings on both decks," Captain Mike 'Wishbone' Davidson reported.

On the secondary screens, it showed Vipers landing in fours. They were quickly snatched out of the way for the next ones in line. Of the eighty Vipers launched, only sixty-nine landed safely. Raptors picked up twelve pilots and jumped as soon as they were full.

"All guns fire on the baseship directly to port!" Mathew ordered.

"Radiological warnings! Incoming missiles, estimated count four hundred. Nuclear targets at least thirty inside the wave."

"Target those missiles and fire!" Mathew yelled as one of the stations exploded into ruin behind him.

"Targeting and firing!" Ensign Rick Anderson replied as he gave the guns their orders.

"Last Vipers landing now. Cylon raid closing and launching missiles. Flight pods are retracted," Wishbone reported as the ship heaved as a nuclear missile detonated as it was destroyed less than three hundred feet from the ship.

"JUMP!"

The missiles flew through the area where they were supposed to target and homed in on the Caprican refinery. The nuclear missiles had shut down for recovery, but the standard ship-to-ship missiles slammed into the side of the station. The resulting explosions detonated the leaking tylium and the station blew apart like a super nova. Wreckage went flying in all directions, some of it slamming into the thousands of Raiders and the closest baseship.

Dozens of Raiders blew up, and hundreds more were damaged as the debris field ripped through them and slammed into the nearby baseship. The ship broke apart in the rain of debris that hit the central spine. This caused the top and lower halves to go spinning off into different directions killing some of her crew from the inertia as the inertial compensators failed. As the remains of the ship came to a stop, her surviving humanoid crew abandoned ship and headed for the nearby baseships. The Heavy Transport Raiders flew towards their brother ships, while the remaining combat Raider were recovered by the surviving baseships or jumped away to other ships that had depleted their Raider complements in the battles with the colonial forces.

Several heavy raiders were sent out to scour the battlefield to identify which ship had attacked them.

**Point Athena:**

**29 AU's from Caprica:**

**Battlestar **_**Providence:**_

Repair crews were already hard at work on the ship as Mathew looked at the Dradis board. It showed the three fleet refueling tankers, four heavy tankers from the refinery, as well as the ore hauler. The dozens of Raptors and shuttle that had taken part in the mission were protecting the ships as two Raptors were heading towards a contact at extreme range.

"Any idea what or who she is?" Mathew asked.

"Nothing… wait turning speakers on," Olivia replied.

"_Providence, _this is 'Whisper' in Raptor 6361, closing on the contact. I have no colonial beacon signature, but she is a _Majestic_ class liner, with the name Graystone Industries #4 on her side," came Lieutenant Zoë Blake.

Mathew picked up the handset and asked, "Whisper, anyone alive over there?"

"Sir, she has a hole in her side near her engine room, her bridge has some damage, but there are lights on in the main part of the hull. I think we may… yes we have survivors someone just slid the porthole slide up and I can see a face looking at me. She's waving at us. Cookie is trying to contact them on the wireless, but no one is answering, I think their system is down. Wait they're flashing a light at us."

"What are they saying," Mathew asked.

"Engine room damaged, bridge damaged, need help. Please help us. Is what they're asking," came the reply after a few minutes.

"Tell them we're sending a pair of lifters out for them," Mathew ordered.

"Sir, the hangars are packed," Michelle reported.

"I know that. That's why I said a pair of lifters. They can serial their jump engines and take the ship with them," Mathew said as he looks at Wishbone.

"I'm on it, Sir," Captain Mike Davidson replied as he picked up his handset.

"Whisper, tell them help is on the way," Mathew replied and then turned to Michelle, "Colonel, get those tankers moving to the fleet. We'll follow about an hour after those lifters jump with the liner."

"Yes, Sir," she replied and picked up her handset and started giving her orders to the fuel ships which quickly jumped away.

"CAG, start cycling the Raptors into the ship, as soon as their Marines are unloaded, they are to refuel and jump back to the home worlds. They are to continue to check the outlying towns and villages for survivors. They are to go in groups of five each. We need to rescue as many as we safely can," Mathew ordered and then turned to his communications officer, "Olivia, what's the word on long range communications?"

"Still down… they need two hours to hook up the new antenna under the bow. As soon as that is completed, we'll have it back," Lieutenant Jackson replied.

"Then we'll stay here for two hours. Let's get that pole in place. Launch a CAP," Mathew ordered as the crew went to work.

For the next hour, the crew worked at their jobs. Raptors were cycled in, and they quickly were refueled and sent on their mission. The liner was towed to the ship and hauled into the portside landing bay, due to structural damage to the ship, they were afraid if they jumped with her, she would snap in half.

_**Providence **_**CIC:**

Lisa Graystone, niece to the company founder walked onto the bridge with her escorts. She stood there looking at the crew working to repair their ship and was about to ask who was in charge when a young man wearing commander insignias stood up from behind a console. She was worried about the people left at Caprica, and at her base. She was also worried about the seven hundred and fifty-nine employees of the Graystone Industries and their families that were onboard for deployment to the base and the six hundred Navy personal and Marines they were transporting.

"Lieutenant, that should have it working," Mathew said as he took a cloth and wiped his hands. Looking around, he saw the beautiful redhead standing between two Marines and assumed she was from Graystone four.

"That has it, Sir," Olivia replied as she started listening to the Colonial emergency broadcast.

Mathew started walking over and before he could talk to the civilian, he was interrupted.

"Sir! You better hear this," she said as she turned the speakers on.

"**This is an official Colonial Government broadcast. All ministers and officials should now go to Case Orange. Repeat: This is an official Colonial Government broadcast. All ministers and officials should now go to Case Orange."**

"Sir, what does it mean?" Olivia asked.

"It means the president and all Government officials are dead as well as most of the military. We lost…"

"Sir, a second message is coming in," Olivia added.

"**Case Orange has been settled. The new president is Secretary of Education Laura Roslin."**

"Lovely, a teacher as president in a time of war," Michelle said from her station.

"Can't hurt. Can she do any worse than Adar and him cutting the military and sending a third of the Battlestars to the breakers? Plus, in his cost measuring idiocy, he depoed half the fleet to the yards and which probably cost us thousands of lives. Just to save credits for their social programs."

"Sir, we have a message from President Roslin to all military and civilian ships to report to her location to join up. Commander Adama of the Battlestar _Galactica_ counters Roslin's orders, and orders all ships to report to Ragnar Station for the counter attack. These messages are nine hours old. Are we going there?" Olivia asked.

"Dispatch two Raptors to the Ragnar Anchorage. They are to get as close as possible for sensor range. They are not to close with the station, just in case the Cylons are waiting for them. We will continue our rescue effort, and will engage the enemy. We will let Adama and his fleet, draw the enemy away from us, and the colonies. I know that sounds cold, but we can use the time to save more of our people," Mathew ordered.

"Yes, Sir, I'm dispatching two Raptors to Ragnar Anchorage now," Captain Davidson.

"You're not going to help the president?" Lisa Graystone asked.

"Nope. What I'm going to do is continue to rescue as many people as I can from our worlds before we have to run," Mathew replied.

"Then there are nine hundred civilians and twenty-eight hundred colonial Marines and naval personal at our hidden research station that need help," Lisa stated.

"Mrs.?" Mathew asked.

"Graystone, Miss Lisa Graystone, I'm the chief weapons development officer for Graystone industries new weapons research center," Lisa said as she held out her hand.

Mathew shook her hand, and noticed how soft it felt in his as he replied, "Nice to meet you, but I thought Graystone was forbidden to make weapons after the first Cylon war?"

"We were, President Mueller reinstated us and allowed us to bid on new military contracts as long as we stayed away from cybernetic life forms. I was chosen eight years ago to head the station, Commander…?" Lisa replied as she looked at the handsome man.

"Commander Mathew Lin, commander of the Battlestar _Providence._ Now what base and why would there be that many military personnel there?"

"Well, that's a long story. Basically, we have been building a new class of warship. It's called the _Trident_ class. It took four years of research to design and nineteen months to build her. All we need is the FTL computer we designed for her, and then she'll be ready to fight. She's named for Poseidon's weapon of choice, and she has three armored bows. The bows are heavily reinforced to withstand ramming attacks.

"She has a single flight pod with duel decks that is lowered from the ventral of the ship. When her pod is retracted, the hull is rounded across the bottom and contains weapon positions. When extended, the flight pod is thirty feet below the hull and contains two flight decks and twenty-four launch tubes for Vipers.

"She carries sixty paired heavy rail guns, her weapons are twenty to port and starboard on a centerline system. The remaining twenty weapons are split evenly on the ventral and top deck. These are the dual MK-19 cannons used on the _Valkyrie _class. She carries seventy flak batteries across the top of the ship, and fifty on the ventral. When the pod is extended another thirty flak batteries are deployed on each side of the landing bay to protect it from attack.

"She is equipped to handle one hundred and twenty MK-VII Vipers and twenty Raptors but can actually carry two hundred Vipers and fifty Raptors, in storage. Currently, the _Trident_ is in our dry dock. She is fully completed except, as I said, for her FTL computer, pilots, and ammo for her railguns. Well, not really on the ammo, we have built a stockpile with the manufacturing facilities of the ship.

"The manufacturing facilities can produce ammo, missiles, Vipers, Raptors or any other small craft. Ship's complement was supposed to be four thousand Navy personal, one thousand Marines for the ship's weapons, three hundred for the manufacturing facilities and two hundred pilots. We have less than a third of that for the ship. We can fight, with what we have and we do have seventy pilots for the air wings."

"Whoa, take a breath. Where is your base? Why do you need help if you have such a powerful ship?" Mathew asked.

"Well, the ship is at our base, and as I said, the FTL computer for her is onboard Graystone #4. The computer is more advanced, and is supposed to be able to travel further then the standard FTL system. It was built at Graystone industries just for this ship. We were taking it there for delivery, along with more crew and families being assigned to the station to work there…"

The shrilling of the handset got Mathew and Lisa's attention.

"Sir, Sergeant Benning is on the horn for you," Olivia said.

"I'll take it here," Mathew ordered as he picked up the handset, and said, "Lin, go ahead Sergeant."

"Sir, this is Sergeant Benning. I'm down here on the port flight deck. Ummm, Sir, we have one of those women onboard. She disembarked from the liner and is talking to several knuckleheads."

"Surround and detain her. Do not get within arm reach of her or she can kill you. I'm on the way down, if she fights, kill her," Mathew snapped in the phone.

Hanging up the handset, he said, "Get Marines to the portside bay. We have a Cylon clone onboard."

"A what?" Lisa asked as he walked away and when he didn't answer, she followed him.

"The Cylons have developed clones, that all I can describe them like. They look human, even the autopsies performed on the bodies we have show they're human. But they work for the Cylons. I assume they are raised in crèches and are fiercely loyal to the toasters. We've lost hundreds of good men and women to them when they tried to disable this ship," Mathew said as they stepped into the elevator and descended several decks.

"Clones? Is that possible?"

"Deadly!" Mathew said as the doors opened and they started walking down the hallway to the hangar deck.

As they entered they heard a woman's voice talking.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't move or I'll plug you lady… if you are a lady! That is," came a male's voice.

"Open a hole!" Mathew shouted.

The people parted and they saw a dozen Marines pointing their weapons at a woman standing with her hands up.

"What are you doing? That's my personal assistant, Anita," Lisa Graystone said as she pushed her way through the crowd as they chanted, 'kill the toaster.'

Mathew grabbed Lisa's arm, yanked her back and into a Marines arms, "Hold her for me, corporal."

"Yes, Sir," came the reply as the man grabbed the woman by her upper arms.

Coming to a stop in front of her, Mathew looked at her while she studied him.

"Well, who do we have here?" she finally asked.

"Commander Mathew Lin. As you know, you're onboard the Battlestar _Providence._ Now, tell me, how many more of you clones are there?" Mathew asked.

Anita looked at the human and smiled, as she replied, "More than enough to wipe out ninety-nine percent of your ships and people. We'll get the rest of you in a bit. So go ahead, kill me!"

"I'm not a barbarian like you are. Guards! Cuff her and drag her frakking ass to the brig. Don't hurt her, but don't be to gentle if she resists. By the way, we will get the information we need," Mathew said.

The Marines forced the woman down on her belly, and cuffed her hands and feet. They then picked her up and carried her out of the room as she shouted for them to just kill her and that God would avenge her.

Mathew watched the woman being hauled away and then turned to Lisa, "I hope she's never been to your base," he asked.

"No, Loraine Bell, my usual assistant was injured in a car accident on Caprica two weeks ago. Anita worked for her, and I promoted her to my assistant a week ago while she heals. Loraine is with us, going out to the station to see her grandkids, but is unable to work because of her shattered right arm and leg," Lisa replied.

"Then you and your people are very lucky," Mathew said.

"We are? I don't understand how you think she is a Cylon," Lisa asked.

"Follow me, and I'll show you," Mathew said as he turned and left the room.

Lisa looked at the man's broad shoulders and sighed, and then she realized he was leaving her and she scrambled after him. Running after the commander, she shouted, "Wait up!"

Mathew stopped at the intersection, and allowed the woman to catch up to him. She stopped next to him panting and he said, "You need to do some running."

"I didn't have time. I was building a new ship for the fleet," Lisa replied as they started walking deeper into the ship and she asked, "Where are we going?"

"The morgue," Mathew replied as he started walking towards the infirmary.

"The morgue?" Lisa whispered as a shiver ran down her back and then she started following him.

Mathew stepped into the room and stood there looking around and spotted Doctor Laura Hastings working on a Marine. Walking over, he saw it was Colonel Ranchen. "Is he going to be ok?" he asked.

"He will be as soon as I finish patching him up," Laura said as a medical orderly wiped her head.

"Good, he is a good man and we need him. I need to use the morgue for a few minutes," Mathew replied.

"You know where it is, just close the door when you're done," Laura replied as she pulled a piece of shrapnel out of the wound and dropped it in the pan with a clang.

"Thanks, Doc," he said and then led Lisa to the back of the medical station.

"You will be surprised what we have," he said as he pulled the door open and they walked into the massive cold room.

Walking over to the doors mounted in the wall, he pushed four carts out of the way and then started opening the doors of twelve of the storage units.

Lisa watched as the doors were open and the trays mounted inside slid out. The first body she saw was a black man as Mathew uncovered it, then Mathew uncovered the second one and his twin was there.

"So they' twins," she said.

"How about triplets," he replied and uncovered a third. He then started on the rest and had to rush to catch Lisa before she could hit the floor. Picking her up, he carried her towards the door as an orderly came in.

"Close them up for me," he said as he swept by the young man.

"Yes, Sir," the man said and pulled the door closed.

Mathew carried the woman to an empty chair and set her down in as Laura came over and asked, "What did you do to her?"

"She passed out when I showed her the clones we have in the deep freeze. We captured one of them on her ship. She was her assistant and we have her in the brig," Mathew replied as Laura opened a bottle and held it under Lisa's nose.

Lisa sneezed violently and continued to sneeze, as she grabbed a box of tissues off the desk. Her eyes started watering, and her face started turning red.

"Frak!" Laura said as she turned to her medicine cabinet and grabbed another bottle off the shelf. She started filling it as she asked, "What's her weight?"

"I don't know, about a hundred…"

"One fifteen," Lisa stuttered, between sneezes and gasps.

Laura filled the syringe with three CCs of Blazien, and turned and injected the serum into the woman's arm. They watched as the medicine quickly countered the reaction to the ammoniac chemical used to wake people up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Laura stated as Mathew turned to the handset and started talking into it.

"It's ok, doctor, there was no way you could have known. Your quick reaction saved me from a long bed rest. Now, how can there be clones? We don't have that technology," Lisa said as she threw the soggy tissues away.

"We don't know. I've done autopsies on the one that killed our bridge crew, and the one that hit our sister ship. Both are human, right down to their DNA. Why they work for them, I have no idea," Laura said as she helped the woman stand up.

"Lisa, I've ordered the crated FTL drive loaded into one of our long range shuttles. It can carry thirty-six passengers. It will take you and a team you select to your base. You need to strip the base, and get your ship running. The pilot has the coordinates for our rendezvous location. When your ship is out of where you were building it, jump there and join us. By then, we should have some more crew for your ship," Mathew said as they started walking.

"Thank you, but can't you come to the base?" Lisa asked.

"No. We will be continuing our rescue operations and sending Raptors back to our ships to deliver them. We have over two hundred Raptors jumping all over the twelve colonies and the Battlestar patrol groups in CSAR mode," Mathew replied as they walked into the landing bay where they were met by her people.

Lisa started giving orders to her people, and they grabbed their bags and headed for the shuttle. As soon as she called the last name, she turned to Mathew, and held her hand out, "Thank you, Mathew, please watch over my people."

"I will, good luck," Mathew replied, and then was surprised as she kissed him on the lips.

As their kiss separated, she whispered, "I want to get to know you better."

With a smile she ran for her shuttle as the deck crew and former passengers of the Graystone liner started whistling and carrying on. The shuttle was lowering down onto the main deck to launch as he shouted out to his deck crew, "OK YOU KNUCKLEHEADS! BACK TO WORK. GET THIS BITCH FIXED AND OFF MY FLIGHT DECK!" as he pointed at the small liner.

Turning, he walked off the flight deck to his men and woman chuckling, but they were going back to work. By the time he reached the CIC, the shuttle was gone.

"Did they get off ok?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir. Sir, we received reports of other Raptors and dozens of ships FTLing out before we could make contact. We did make out one transmission or part of one. It states, the _Sword,_ nine, Cylons zero. Sir, what is the _Sword?"_ Michelle asked.

"No idea, anything in the fleet records?" Mathew asked.

"Three ships mentioned. One is an old _Gallant_ glass cruiser destroyed twenty years ago in an FTL accident. The second is a light cruiser of the reserve fleet, and the third is the scrapped Atlas class Battlestar _Sword,_ which was sent to the scrap yard.

"Seems we have a mystery. Notify the Raptors to keep an eye out," Mathew ordered as he sat down in his chair.

"Incoming FTL signatures, sixteen no twenty counts," Ensign Hank Vermont reported.

"Tell the Vipers to stand by, all weapons to standby mode," Mathew ordered.

"Sir, Colonial beacons. It's the Raptors from Picon, Virgon and Scorpio plus four small freighters," Hank reported.

"Good, send them on to the relay point, and then they're to hit Caprica and Gemenon if they can," Mathew said as he looked at the four freighters and then added, "Have the freighters hold up for inspection…"

"Incoming FTL signature… Sir! Cylon base ship! Ten thousand miles to starboard," Hank shouted.

"FIRE!"

_Providence's _guns were already trained out. Before the Cylon could launch missiles or raiders, explosions started detonating off the hull as the high explosive armor piercing rounds dug deep into her central support. In seconds the ship exploded into a fireball as her Tylium fuel was detonated.

"Send the orders to the Raptors, we will meet at location six," Mathew said as the alarms were shut down.

"Sent," Olivia reported.

"Drop a beacon, and jump us to location six."

"FTL is spooled up, and ready to go," Hank said.

"Jump." 

_**First Edited by Bill Lewis**_

_**Final Edit By TeNderLoin **_

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Battlestar Sword and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2010.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Twins of BG-99**

**Chapter Five**

**Cylons**

(The Twelve Colonies of Kobol mistakenly believed they were the first to create them.

The first Cylons were sentient bipedal robots used primarily for dangerous work such as mining.

Created long before the Articles of Colonization united the twelve sovereign governments,

the Cylons were also used as soldiers to fight inter-colony wars.)

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years....**

**Until Now.**

**Baseship Alfa:**

**Heading after the Galactica:**

**Alfa CIC:**

Cavil was fuming as he looked at his minions. He paced back and forth. Several of his brothers watched as he glared at each of them.

"Tell me how so many Battlestars survived our attacks?" Cavil said as he came to a stop in front of three number sixes.

"We thought we had them all located. We should…"

"Should doesn't matter. We have the _Galactica_ running away, and trying to find the thirteenth tribe. We have the Battlestar _Pegasus_ out there with an insane human at the helm. Plus the _Hermes* _with that human Artimus Bowman, is becoming a real thorn in our side, and now the _Victorious**_ under Admiral Scott Tolan and their battle group have joined in... And now we now have another Battlestar named _Sword,_ and several hundred ships running away as well and… AND NOW YOU COME TO ME ABOUT ANOTHER ONE! But this one is unknown, and this Battlestar just fraken took out the CAPRICAIN REFINERY. BY THE GODS! CAN'T ANY OF YOU DO YOUR FRAKKING JOBS?"

"Don't use Gods name in vane!" one of the sixes said as she wiped the spit from her face.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO SAY! HOW MANY MORE ARE OUT THERE? YOU SAID WE GOT THEM ALL!"

"We thought we did. We had their locations. Why they survived, we don't know," the number eight said.

"Brother, we can hear you. You don't need to scream," another number one said.

Cavil turned on his brother, his hand came out and the slap could have been heard on Caprica as the number one went flying. "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

"Calm down, brother. We will destroy them," another number one said as he reached out and placed his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Yes, must be calm… must think," Cavil said as he turned to the rest of the group again.

"_Two, four, eight, they're multiplying. Tylium is power, power is fleeting." End of line_, came from the hybrid.

Cavil felt the words dig into his neurons as he turned and looked at the hybrid as she contained.

"_The blade, twins out of the night. A ghost from the past shall come. All shall unite to destroy. Seek out the heart for the answers. End of line."_

"Blabbing idiots, I don't know why we keep them," Cavil said as he turned back to the Cylons in the room.

"Here's what were going to do. I want the baseships organized into fleets of five ships each. The Alfa and her escorts will continue after the _Galactica._ Send one fleet after the _Pegasus._ Three fleets after the _Victorious_ and one after the _Hermes._ Dispatch two fleets to find the unknown Battlestar that blew up the refinery. Three fleets are to head after the _Sword_ and her survivors. The rest are to scour the systems around the twelve colonies and wipe out every colonial and civilian ship, base and town they encounter as well as the outlying colonies we haven't hit yet. Order our ground forces to continue to wipe out all the humans on the colonies except for the breedable women and young girls. Leoben wants to use them in his experiments, so gather them up. They are to be transported to our new base on Caprica…"

"_The one shall come, who shall reveal all. She shall set them free from hell, and eventually lead the fleeing ones to… Gas, clouds, eyes, all are clues. End of line."_

"Will you shut up!" Cavil said to the hybrid as he looked at his minions, and asked, "well?"

"We'll get on it. But you need to rest," the number eight said.

"I will, but right now, we need to get going. Get to your baseships and start doing your frakking jobs," Cavil snapped and watched as the others scattered to the landing bays of the great ship.

Turning back to the Dradis board, he mumbled, "This will not turn out like the first war. We shall prevail and our enemies shall be crushed beneath our feet."

"_War… a fickle game. One hand can trump the other. A joker in the deck shall destroy all or lead them astray or to a new home. Ten by the third power… trinity… life, love, hate. It all equals the same. Preparing to jump. Jump!"_

"Dradis contact. It's the _Galactica."_

"Attack!" Cavil said.

*** Battlestar Hermes is written by The Wilky Bar Kid and posted at ****.net/u/2046734/The_Wilky_Bar_Kid**

**** Battlestar Victorious is written by Wes Imlay and posted at ****.net/u/1020863/Wes_Imlay**

**Both of the stories are excellent reads, and my thanks go out to the authors for allowing me to add them.**

_**First Edited by Bill Lewis**_

_**Final Edit By TeNderLoin**_

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Battlestar Sword and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2010.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Twins of BG-99**

**Refugees**

(Person or persons involuntarily displaced from his or her homeland.)

**Chapter Six**

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years....**

**Until Now.**

**Location Six:**

**7AU's from Colonial Gunnery Training Area: **

**CIC **_**Providence:**_

"Dradis?" Mathew asked.

"Still working up," came the reply.

"Set condition two throughout the ship," Mathew said as he looked around the room for any damages.

Melissa reached over and picked up the handset, "Now hear this. Set condition two throughout the ship. Stand down, but be ready to rejoin your positions. Check your immediate area for damages or malfunctions and report them to the DC officer."

"Dradis contact!"

"Distance and ID!" Mathew asked as he turned back to the Dradis display station.

"Sixteen million miles directly ahead and no ID on her," Ensign Richard Black reported.

"Dispatch Raptors to investigate her," Mathew ordered as he was handed a stack of reports.

"Yes, Sir," Wishbone replied as he picked up the handset and gave the orders.

"Sir, contact has jumped," Richard reported.

"Did we get any visuals?" Mathew asked as he set the reports to the side.

"Coming in now," Richard reported as his hands flew over his controls.

Mathew walked over to the monitor, and watched as the ship was revealed when the image came in.

"Frak! It's a _Titan!"_ Mathew said.

"I figured they had been all destroyed," Richard said as he worked with the picture, trying to enlarge it.

The enlarged image showed the stern of the ship, and part of the portside pod, the pod had gaping holes in it, as did the side. Some of the guns were twisted wreckage, and from the stern to her flight pod was blackened from a nuclear missile detonation.

"Well, some survived, we need to find her," Mathew replied and looked up at the CAG standing at his station working, and said, "Wishbone, I want you to notify your Raptors to keep an eye out for a _Titan_ class Battlestar. If they can, they need to contact her and try and get her to join up with us."

"I will get right on it," Wishbone said and picked up his handset.

For the next three days, Raptors jump in and are sent on to the Graveyard with the survivors. The _Providence_ runs darken with power at minimum power so they wouldn't be detected from long range. Her gun crews and pilots are rotated in shifts while repair crews repaired what damage they could.

_**Providence**_** CIC:**

**Four days after the attack:**

"Hank, drop a beacon, and let's rejoin the _Destiny,"_ Mathew ordered as he walked into the CIC carrying his cup of coffee.

"Yes, Sir. Beacon dropped, spooling up the FTL drive now. We can jump in five minutes," Lieutenant Hank Vermont replied from the navigation station.

The minutes counted down, and only two more Extended Raptors appeared during that time. Both landed on the flight decks, and forty survivors from Caprica were taken to medical as the Raptors were refueled.

"Sir, we can jump," Hank said.

"Jump!"

**Graveyard:**

**Four days after the attack:**

_Providence_ appeared just outside the Graveyard and moved inside the massive storage area of ships. Coming to a stop next to the _Destiny,_ all external lights were shut down. Around them, sparks and flashes were coming from dozens of ships as repair crews worked on restoring them.

"_Destiny_ actual to _Providence_ actual," came across the speakers.

Mathew smiled and picked up the handset and replied, "_Providence_ here. How's it going Andrew?"

"Going good. We have a lot of the external repairs completed. All but one of the main rail guns is back online. We should have number nineteen repaired in three days. She took a direct hit, and we're having to rebuild the whole mount. Our FTL drive is back online. Repairs to the portside hangar, are at forty percent. We have pressure in the bay, but the maglifts, internal supports and launching rails are still off line. Long-range communication has been restored but we haven't picked up anything nor have we sent any contact word out. Destroyers _Pyramid_ and _Gamer_ have been repaired and I've stationed them as well as the _Triad_ on the flanks of the graveyard as pickets…"

"What destroyers?" Mathew asked.

"Oh yeah, you don't know about them. They were found by one of the patrol searching Raptors. They were ordered to jump away, and they did. They returned a few hours later to find us saving the remaining crews from the Battlestars _Poseidon, Zeus, Hestia_, and _Dionysus_ of battle group fifty. They recovered thirty-five hundred and forty-nine crewmembers from the four ships along with ninety-three Vipers, twelve Raptors, and two heavy lifters.

"But the best haul was tons of munitions and food, and supplies… including seventy ship killer nukes. We were wondering what to do with them when the _Ironwood_ arrived. She was an old military munitions cargo ship turned into a museum. Well she still had all her cargo spaces and we transferred all the ammunition and supplies to her. We also recovered a lot of fuel from the wrecks…"

"I think we need to have a council of war. Why don't we meet here in thirty minutes?" Mathew said.

"Better yet, you come here Mathew. Since most of the people we need to talk with are here," Andrew replied.

"On my way," Mathew said and hung up the handset.

"Michelle, you're with me, grab the recordings of that _Titan_, and meet me in the port bay. Wishbone, you have the ship, keep the ship at condition two, and order up two Raptors for us. Continue repairs, and gather what supplies we need from the _Ironwood,"_ Mathew ordered as he walked towards the doors.

Ten minutes after leaving the bridge, the Raptors approached the damaged Battlestar's starboard landing bay. The _Destiny_ showed her heavy damage as they flew into the bay and landed. Mathew looked out the hatch window and saw his brother. With a smile on his face, he hit the door latch and descended to the armored flight deck.

_**Destiny:**_

"'TENCHUN! BATTLESTAR _PROVIDENCE_ ARRIVING!" bellowed from the Marine standing behind Commander Andrew Lin.

"Permission to come aboard," Mathew asked.

"Permission granted," Andrew replied and stepped up and hugged his brother.

"By the Gods, it's good to see you again," Mathew said as the broke apart.

"You too, come on, the meeting is in my office," Andrew said and they started walking out of the flight deck.

As they walked through the ship, Mathew noticed the crews working hard on repairing the ship's systems. Andrew led his brother and his XO to his office and they stepped inside. Sitting at the massive table were four men, and four women.

"Grab a seat," Andrew said as he went to the cabinet and filled two glasses. Turning he set them down in front of his brother and his XO.

"Thanks Andrew," Mathew said as he set his folder down and sat down. Michelle copied him and they waited for Andrew to continue.

"Everyone, this is my brother, Commander Mathew Lin of the Battlestar _Providence,_ and his XO Colonel Michelle Howards. Mathew, Michelle, from your left, is General Mike Lancet, Colonial Army, his sister Angela Lancet, medical doctor, and chief design pharmacist for the Lionel Pharmaceutical Company. Next to her are Major Josh Hutchison of Special Research and Loretta Willard of Aquarion Alga Corporation. On this side of the table are Lance Druggs of Virgon Munitions. My XO, Lieutenant Justin Hawks, and Doctor Lisa Mayan of Caprica and finally, Lexus Mayer from Lexus Security Corporation," Andrew said as he sat down.

"Hello, everyone I'm glad to meet all of you. As my brother said, I'm Commander Mathew Lin. I'm in charge of the _Providence,_ and I'm doing the best I can to rescue as many survivors as I can from the colonies and the sub-colonies while Andrew here worked on repairing the ships here to house them. I've been keeping the Cylons guessing while the refugees are brought here and processed…"

"Yes, what the hell is the processing business? We were photographed and handed special IDs with our pictures on them," Doctor Lisa Mayan demanded.

"That was done for a reason. The Cylons have human clones working for them. We are assuming they were raised in crèche's and then sent into our population to infiltrate us and kill our top officers. I believe they even installed the virus into our CNP systems that cost us our Battlestars…"

"Oh come on. You don't expect me to believe that crap," Major Josh Hutchison said in an angry sounding voice.

Andrew stood up, placed his hands on the table and leaned towards the dark haired man and snarled at him, "Deadly. We have identified three versions so far. We don't know how many others there are. But we need to be careful, and ID everyone or else more of them could and will get aboard. Also, with the thanks of General Lancet and his men, I have stationed men on every ship we have found so far. The good news is they had a combat engineering team with them, and they have been used to help get some of the derelict ships working.

"One of the ships rescued, was from Virgon's Lexus Security Company. She is a security carrier and carried twenty MK-VI Vipers, and ten of the extended Raptors. Her commanding officer, Lexus here, did a mass rescue of their families from the town where her company was based. All twelve of their vehicles were able to lift off sixty-seven hundred people. I gave them the job they are trained for. Security and intelligence gathering, that is, I also have them in charge of getting the IDs passed out to the civilians and their flagship is processing the information. They have already found two of the blonds who hurt our ships. All of their ships are armed, and one of them, the _Lexus,_ is a fully fledged ELINT ship…"

"How did you and your ships survive?" Mathew asked.

"…and their flagship." Andrew said

"Sir, we stored our ships in an underground hangar built in to the side of a mountain. When the attack happened, it was chaos, for awhile. I was at work in the office. I sent teams out to gather up our families while the rest of the personnel loaded our ships with supplies, fuel and water. We also loaded all team gear and as the people arrived, we passed them through to the ships and had everyone battened down. We were trying to figure out where to go when we got a mayday call from Virgon Munitions.

"It seemed three of your Raptors and a pair of cargo ships had landed at the production facility and was loading the ships when they were attacked by Cylon ground forces. They had them separated from the ships as they were trying to get the missiles they had grabbed back to them. Well, I had five of my teams drive their assault vehicles through the town to the factory and we caught them from the rear. Your pilots told us what was going on, so with our teams providing support, we emptied the factory of some molds for your ammo, the readymade ammo, and all the nuclear missiles they had on hand. You should have enough missiles now to fire for years if you're careful," Lexus stated as she reached for her water glass and took a sip.

"Fantastic, I need to re-arm my ship, and that will help," Mathew said.

"Yes, it will. Now, as to General Lancet, and his men… General, what did you save?" Andrew asked.

"We brought everything we could. I have the army version of your Grail missiles, I'm sure they can be adapted to your launchers, but I was thinking this. We have brought twenty-six of those _Valley_ class barges online from the Picon Limited Shipping, which was the company that went under five years ago from the sex scandal with the Picon Quorum member. After the court proceedings, they mothballed all their ships.

"I was thinking of taking four of them, and mounting four of the missile batteries on each of them. We also have sixteen CWIS anti-aircraft batteries mounted on flatbed trucks. We strip the systems from the trucks; mount them on the barges as well. Once that's done, we spread them through the fleet and we have some nasty surprises for the toasters when they come in.

"We also have eight of the Mark 9 dual turreted tanks. I have no idea on what to do with them, except store them, for now. Now as to my men, I officially am disbanding the Colonial Army, and turning them into Marines. Gentleman, you now have seventy-five hundred new Marines. Use us well," Mike said

"Are you sure? I know the Army has a long tradition and honor," Mathew asked.

"Yes, we don't need an army, but will need ship Marines. With my brigade, you will have enough troops to station some on each ship, and still have a reserve.

"As for the rest of the barges, I suggest we turn them into Marine barracks ships, and then use the _Gabe_ as a training ship for new recruits for you, since she is armed with twenty flak batteries, six heavy rail guns and six missiles batteries," Mike said.

Mathew sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin as he thought on the displacement of the ship.

He then said, "No. Not training. That ship is heavily armored and armed. I think it would make the best location for our school for our young."

"I agree. Is that ok with you General?" Andrew asked.

"Fine, in fact I think it's a good idea. The ship has room for all types of classes and one of the decks is laid out like a track field. She also has five dining areas and kitchens large enough to feed ten thousand men and woman, Mike replied.

"Good idea. Now Miss Lancet, what about your ships," Andrew asked as he turned to the brunette.

"Well, the five medical ships we escaped with are one hundred percent operational. The freighters _Franklin_ and _Crispin_ have been turned into pharmaceutical labs, and we'll be able to produce the medications we need. I have ordered the company liner '_Laura Lionel'_ to be modified into a smaller medical ship, and we're using the supplies taken from Lionel Company Headquarters to be used in the modification. The _Laura_ will have a five hundred bed ward, four operating rooms, and four dental rooms when they're finished. The hospital ships _'Mercy, Console, Relief, Repose _and_ Expectation'_each have five thousand beds (one thousand per deck for five decks), ten operating rooms, eight dental rooms, atmospheric chambers, seven labs and living spaces for all the medical doctors and crew. The _Mercy, Relief _and _Console_ have been turned over to the fleet for fleet personal and the remaining three are being used for civilian populations. That's all I have to report," Angela said as she reached over and picked up her water and took a sip.

"Thank you, Miss Lancet. Loretta, you're up," Andrew said as he looked at the red head from Aquaria.

"Thank you, Commander. First, I want to thank you all for letting us join you. Now to my ships disposition, I was aboard the _Johansson_ to inspect her gardens when the Cylons appeared and started bombing the planet. I ordered our ships to jump to safety because I knew we would be needed to help regrow our ecology and we couldn't do that if we were destroyed.

"Along with my eleven ships, nineteen others jumped with us, I have five large botanical cruisers; the algae ship _Plankton,_ the freighters _Myra_ and _Sofia _carrying seed stock for the colony on Troy, three water tenders _'Aquarian, Gift of Life, _and the_ Sea Dragon,' _as well as three Colonial Heavies that were approaching orbit. They're ID's are 312, 2920 and 97. We also picked up the fleet tugs _Butch, Clyde_ and _Horseman_.

"The remaining nineteen ships are as follows, six freighters, two prison ships, ship number 2 and 311 of the colonial penal fleet carrying thirty-two hundred and seventy-eight prisoners, sixty crew and three hundred guards; three flat top long range repair ships, the tanker _Genie_, two foundry ships, _Griffin_ and _Tauron Forge_, eight yachts, four of them super yachts," she said as tears started flowing down her face.

Then she snapped out in anger, "The frakking toasters destroyed seven of my ships on the ground or in dry-dock or docked with the Aquaria space station. They need to be destroyed!"

"I agree, but we also need to get our people to a new home, where we can rebuild," Andrew said as he reached over and squeezed Loretta's hand.

"You're right. I'm sorry I lost my temper," she replied as she looked at Andrew and smiled as she wiped her tears away.

Andrew felt his stomach turn when she smiled at him and was wondering what she was thinking as he turned back to the meeting.

"Thank you, and that's all I have," Loretta said.

"Thank you, Miss Willard. Major Hutchison, what about you?" Andrew asked.

"Well, thanks to the _Providence's_ Raptors, I was able to lift off in the Heavy Lifter _Hercules _with the Stealth Fighter _Mirage,_ as well as all her support equipment in the escort Raptors and tug _Growler…"_

"Stealth Fighter?" Mathew and Andrew asked at the same time.

"Yes, she is the latest out of Libran Industries. We were preparing to deliver her to the fleet when the attack happened. The Stealth Fighter has six forward-firing kinetic energy weapons (KEWS), two mounted on the nose and two on each wing. She has four missile launchers in the ventral section of the ship with six missiles each. She also has two rear firing KEWS between her twin engines. She is crewed by three, a pilot, rear gunner and ECO.

"She has the capacity to carry ten Marines inside her drop compartment or two five thousand pound bombs. She can also carry on external hard points eight five hundred pound bombs, but that would defeat her Stealth capacity. She is twenty-one meters long, twelve meters wide and when her gear is down, she is ten meters high with her tail fins down, when up, she is thirteen meters high. Oh yeah, she is also FTL capably," Josh said and he smiled as he thought of his baby.

Andrew and Mathew both whistled softly as they listened to the description of the ship.

"That sounds like one dangerous fighter," Andrew said.

"She is, but she's primarily meant for insertion and recon flights," Josh replied.

"Well, let's get her aboard one of the Battlestars so we can get her up and running," Mathew ordered.

"Already have. We've been given part of the _Destiny's_ starboard flight pod and we've set up all our equipment. The plans for the ship have been turned over to the manufacturing plant, and we should have another one in about six weeks," Josh reported.

"Good. Mister Druggs, you're next. What about our ammo?" Andrew asked.

"We were able to yank the molds from the plant when your people showed up at the factory. We also pulled the molds for the other weapons. When we arrived here, three days ago, we scoured the graveyard and found the foundry ship _Hype _deep in the center of the yard_. _We worked hard for two days, and the_ Hype_ is up and running, now that she has fuel. We should start turning out shells in a few days. The ship is a little cramped for six hundred people, but we will make do. We also found a freighter in poor condition, and pulled her six cargo pods. We are in the process of attaching them to the ship and once that's finished, we will begin modifying them into living compartments. At the same time, we pulled the bow of the freighter into the back of the foundry, and have started cutting the freighter up and melting her down into ingots for the molds. When finished, I estimate we'll have about twenty thousand, one thousand pound bars stored on the freighter _Mitchell's Hopes, _another freighter that we've got up and running," Lance reported.

"Good job, Mister Druggs. I want you to take the three other forge ships, and the electronics ships under your wing. You will be in charge of manufacturing, for us. I have another job for you, as well. The long range dry-dock ship _Tucker_ was found an hour ago. If they can get her up and running, you will have her, too. She is not big enough to produce a Battlestar, not even a Valkyrie. But she can build us frigates and light cruisers in the ratio of one cruiser, to two frigates. I want you to start building two frigates inside her," Andrew ordered.

"We can do that but what about pay? How am I going to pay my workers?" Lance asked.

Mathew and Andrew started laughing and then apologized when they saw the look on their guest's faces.

"You want to tell them?" Andrew asked.

"No, you go ahead," Mathew replied.

"Tell us what?" General Lancet asked.

"During the rescue mission, six heavy lifters raided the Colonial Reserve Bank on Tauron, and as you may know, it was headquartered in Hephaestion. We walked away with all the gold and silver in the vaults as well as gem depository, they also emptied every security box in the bank. We're planning on melting the bars down into cubits. Each person will be paid so many coins per month for their work. I've had my XO make out a pay scale for what we will pay them. The precious metals are stored in the number three hold of this ship…"

"That belongs to the people. You have no right to take it!" Doctor Lisa Mayan snapped out.

"It used to belong to the twelve colonies, and if you haven't noticed. They don't exist anymore. So we will put the money to good use. Each person in the fleet will be given five gold and five silver cubits once were away from here, but for now, it's our secret and if anyone of you says anything, I'll know. Do I make myself clear?" Andrew demanded.

The yes's came from everyone in the room.

"Good! Doctor Mayan, I'm making you our chief surgeon, since you held that position at Caprica Medical. We need you to manage the health of the survivors. All the medical ships and supplies…"

"What?" Angela snapped out.

"…will stay under Miss Lancet's command, but you will be her boss. Got me?" Andrew said as Angela sat down and huffed.

"I see. What if I don't want the job?" Lisa asked.

"Then I'll find someone else. But I'd rather have you since you were surgeon general of one of the most advanced medical facilities on Caprica," Andrew replied.

"Ok, I'll take it. But I don't want any interference from the civilian government. If I implement a policy, then it will be followed to the letter," Lisa stated.

"I understand. You will not try and force people to stop smoking or drinking. But in other things, like medicine, you're the law," Andrew said as he picked up his drink and took a sip.

"No problem on that. What about the Sagittarons? They don't like modern medicine."

"Lisa, screw them. If they refuse it, give it to them. If they have children who need the medicine and they refuse it, take the child and treat it and if they refuse to take the child back, we'll find them a new home," Andrew said as the door opened and Captain John Adar walked in carrying a folder in his right hand, his left arm was in a cast that went up to his shoulder.

"Yes Captain?" Andrew said to the cousin of the former president of the twelve colonies.

"Sir, the Raptors are ready to jump to the colonies again. All ships are armed and waiting for the word. Calypso is back and she says she found battle group fifty, or what's left of it. She's taking ten heavy lifters, fourteen Raptors, two shuttles and the repair/freighter _Lynx_ to the site," John said as he laid the folder on the table.

"John! You're alive," Lisa Mayan said as she stood up in shock.

"Lisa? By the lords of Kobol, I thought you would have been killed in the attack," John said as he pulled his former lover to him and hugged her.

Lisa started crying and clutching at the man she was once engaged to. Their life ruined by his family. Wiping her eyes, she looked up at him and smiled as she said, "I have a surprise for you."

"Doctor Mayan, I assume you know Captain Adar." Andrew asked.

Lisa laughed and then looked at the broken arm, "John, I want to see you on the _Misfit_ when we're done. As to your question Commander; yes, I know John. He was my patient eleven years ago, and he broke the same arm then. He was also my fiancée, and is the father of my twin girls…"

"Father? You never told me!" John snapped out as he looked at Lisa.

"John three months after we broke up, your father came to my office. He told me if I ever saw you again or mentioned that I was going to bear your child, he would have my license revoked, and would kick me off the planet. For the sake of our children, I had to leave you alone…"

"I want to meet them if…"

"They're alive, they are on the _Misfit_. Come to dinner, and I'll introduce you," Lisa said as she smiled up at the man she still loved.

"Captain, I'm assigning you to Miss Mayans group. She is in charge of the health of the survivors," Andrew said.

"Sir, I'm not a medical doctor. I'm a Raptor pilot," John said.

"I know, and the _Misfit_ has room in her hangar for two Raptors. I am assigning you to the _Misfit_ as personal pilot for Doctor Mayan," Andrew ordered.

"Yes, Sir," John replied and then hugged Lisa.

"Well, that is good news for you two. Now, John, tell the Raptor crews they are a go. Make sure they have the pictures of the human clone Cylons with them so they don't bring any of them back. We're not sure how many there are, but we need to be careful on who we pick up. Also tell them to keep an eye out for a _Titan._ We spotted one, but she jumped before we could contact her," Mathew said as he laid the folder down he'd been reading.

"A _Titan?_ Are you sure?" Andrew asked as everyone started talking.

"Damned right I am. Michelle, pass out those photos," Mathew said.

Michelle passed the photos out and everyone stared at one of the largest Battlestars ever built.

"John, make sure everyone knows to keep an eye out for her. She needs help and repairs. If we can find her, we can help her," Andrew said as he laid the picture down.

"Yes, Sir, I'll let them know," John said and left the room.

"Now, back to business. Doctor Mayan, what about radiation poisoning? Will the hospital ships be able to treat them?"

"As long as the Anti-Radiation serum lasts, then yes. But once it's…"

"We can make more. We brought enough chemicals with my ships that we can make enough serum for a million people," Doctor Angela Lancet said.

"Good, start producing more. We're going to need it. I'm going back out hunting the Cylons as soon as the ship is re-armed. While we're gone, the rest of you need to get as many ships up and running as you can, because survivors will be arriving, soon. I have three hundred Raptors running SAR and CSAR missions, along with forty heavy lifters and shuttles. Get the ships up and running, even if you can only get life support and engines going, for now, that's ok. The more ships we have, the more people we can carry. Andrew, I noticed there were ten of the Caprica class destroyers out there. Any word on them?" Mathew asked.

"We have teams on five of them. Two are so badly damaged; they will be good only for parts. One is in mint condition as far as we can tell, but her guns are gone. We're pulling the guns from the badly damaged one, and switching them over, but it's going to take time," Andrew replied.

"Do this. Strip the weapons and store them. We will install them later," Mathew said as the handset buzzed.

Andrew reached over and picked the unit up, as he placed it against his ear, he said, "Lin."

Andrew flipped the switch on the wall, and asked, "Lieutenant. Repeat that please."

"Sir, we have a Dradis contacts, twenty-eight, colonial signatures just appeared," the voice reported and then added, "Sir, it's the _Destiny's_ Raptors and heavy lifter as well as the _Whisper. _They are reporting they have the survivors from Battle group twenty-one.

"They found the engine section of the Battlestar _Alumni_ and her port flight pod. They have rescued nine hundred and eleven survivors. They also recovered thirty-one Vipers and five Raptors, three tons of food and ammo. No fuel was recovered; the tanks were damaged and leaked into space."

"Good, send the wounded to the hospital ships. Start cycling the Vipers and Raptors to the fleet. Ammo goes to the _Ironwood,_ and food to one of the storage freighters," Andrew ordered.

"The _Alumni_ was a _Majestic _class Battlestar, she was captained by William 'Fast Track' Mitchells. He was a great captain and will be sorely missed," Andrew said as he hung up the phone.

"I better get back out there and start causing havoc. Andrew, I'll see you in three days. Good luck. If you have to jump, jump and send a Raptor to us at Point Baker," Mathew said.

"Point Baker it is. Good hunting," Andrew replied and hugged his brother.

Breaking the hug, he turned and left the room with Michelle following him. Thirty minutes later, they walked onto into the CIC.

**Providence CIC:**

"Sir, you have command again," Captain Mike 'Wishbone' Davidson said as he came to attention.

"Thank you, Wishbone. We have a mission for you. I want your Raptors ready to go once we jump. We will be jumping to Point Revenge. I want one Raptor to FTL to Picon's moon, she is to take a quick look around and then jump back to us," Mathew ordered.

"Yes, Sir," Wishbone replied. He turned and headed out the door with his pilots pad under his arm.

"Michelle, jump us to Point Revenge, I need to talk with Wishbone," Mathew said and walked out of the room.

Mathew spotted Wishbone walking to the elevator and shouted, "Wishbone. Hold up."

Mike stopped and turned as the Commander called his name. He waited for him and when he reached his location, he asked, "Sir?"

"Here's your mission. I want twenty of your Raptors to go in over Picon Fleet Headquarters. We need to know if there are any fleet survivors there. So, once we jump, your Raptor crews are to jump over the city, drop down and start scanning. I doubt anyone survived the center of the attack, so work on the outskirts of town. The remaining ten Raptors are going to Pailyn and Muritolan. They are to land at the Picon Laboratories factories and clean them out of medical supplies. Four heavy lifters are to go with each group of five Raptors. Each of the Raptors will carry five Marines in case they find survivors there. Can do?" Mathew asked.

"Consider it done," Wishbone replied and grinned as he added, "They won't even know we're there."

"Don't get cocky. We need live humans more than destroyed Cylons right now," Mathew said as he patted his CAG officer on his left shoulder.

"I know, Sir."

"Good, see you later," Mathew said as the alarm sounded and the two men grabbed the handrails mounted to the wall as the ship jumped.

The two men separated, one to send his men to their possible deaths, the other to command all of them to victory, or that's what both of them feared/hoped for.

Mathew sat at his chair going over reports as the counter counted down to jump time.

"Sir, three minutes until we jump. All Raptors and heavy lifters have launched and are ready to go seconds after we jump. Raptor 36735 has returned, and states there are three baseships over Picon. I have the coordinates right here in front of me," Michelle said as she hung up the handset.

Looking at the counter, Mathew nodded his head, hung the tablet on the side of his chair. Picking up his cup, he finished the coffee and handed it to his aide. Standing up, he walked over to the Dradis board, and picked up the handset.

"Now hear this. Set Condition One throughout the ship. Load armor piercing rounds in the main battery. Flak rounds in the secondary batteries. All Vipers, prepare to launch when we come out of hyper. Raptors and heavy lifters, the freighter _Jefferies_ and hospital ship _Mercy_ are in the Erebus Belt. You have the coordinates. When your ship is full of survivors, jump there, drop them off and head back. Make sure everyone has taken their anti-radiation shots so you can survive. _Providence _out!" Mathew ordered and then turned to navigation and said, "Lieutenant Vermont, jump the ship."

"Jumping!"

**Picon Space:**

"I have two baseships in range!" Lieutenant Rick Anderson said from the gunnery station.

"On screen, and open fire!" Mathew said.

The screen changed to show two base ships. One on each side of the ship, before they could start launching their fighters, explosions started detonating from their hulls as armor piercing rounds ripped into the inner part of the ships.

"Third base ship is launching raiders and missiles. They're closing with…" Rick was interrupted when the two baseships exploded into giant fireballs at the same time.

"That's two, now let's get the third. All batteries fire on the third ship, flak cannons. Take out those Raiders," Mathew ordered as the ship lurched from the first enemy missiles.

_Providence_ turned towards the enemy baseship and her four forward rail guns went to rapid firing while her hundreds of lighter weapons reached out and started slapping the enemy Raiders out of space, in droves.

**Picon:**

Twenty Raptors appeared over the ruined city, as the _Providence_ moved in and engaged the enemy. The Raptors started scanning the city below while the remaining ten appeared over their targets and quickly found the two labs where they landed and started recovering much needed medical supplies.

Hundreds of survivors were found in the outlying area and were quickly picked up and jumped to the hidden ships while the _Providence_ fought for its life. While the fight was going on, dozens of ships lifted off the planet, and headed for space and freedom.

**Picon Space:**

"Sir, I have thirty-six ships lifting off from Picon. They're demanding to know where to jump," Lieutenant Olivia Jackson reported.

"Olivia, send them the coordinates to Point Baker…" Mathew stopped talking as the ship was hit by a fifty-megaton nuclear explosion and the ship healed to starboard.

"Take that bitch out!" Mathew shouted as he regained his footing.

"Bow guns are off line!" Rick shouted as he punched the fire control buttons.

"Hard right rudder, all guns fire as you bear. Independent fire, use slug rounds," Mathew ordered.

The giant ship slowly turned, and the portside weapons opened up. The two-ton slug rounds were flying through space at half the speed of light from the massive cannons. The rounds first hit one of the lower pylons and it exploded as the slug ripped right through it. Firing again, the next ten rounds slam into the central section of the ship and she blew up in a giant fireball.

"Radiological warning, income nukes!" Michelle hollers from her station.

"Fire all guns, flak suppression. Take those missiles out," Mathew ordered as the defense guns went to auto fire.

"Raiders are still closing, it looks like they are going to suicide," Michelle said as she turned from her panel and brought up the attacking Raiders on the Dradis screen.

The incoming wave of missiles and Raiders slammed into the thick wall of metal. Raiders and missiles exploded and then they broke through. Thirty missiles streaked in and started detonating as they were targeted by the point defense. Of the thirty missiles, five hit the ship on the starboard flight pod near the launching tunnels. Two of the primary guns were blown to shreds along with ten of the point defense weapons. Of the nineteen raiders, not a single one got through as the Vipers from the ship ripped them apart.

"Dradis?" Mathew asked.

"Clear for right now," Michelle replied.

"Good, start repairs, land the fighters who need refueling on the port bay…"

"Sir, six more ships just lifted off from Queenstown and are requesting instructions," Oliver reported.

Mathew didn't answer, and Michelle turned to her best friend and saw him swaying. Reaching out for him she snapped out, "Send them on the way to the rendezvous location," She caught Mathew before he hit the deck.

"We need a medic here," she snapped out as she helped her boss to his chair.

"Sir, when was the last time you slept?" the medic asked as she came over.

Mathew shook his head and cleared the cobwebs from it as he replied, "Don't know... I think since we jumped the two ships…"

"Sir, that was four days ago. You are going to bed, now. Colonel, you have the con," Medical officer Rita Walls said as she called the Marines over.

"I can't, give me a shot to keep me awake. Soon as the ship is safe, I'll rest," Mathew said as he struggled to his feet.

"Sir, I advise you to get some sleep. I'll be at my post and watching you," Rita replied as she injected the stimulant into her commander's arm.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Walls, please return to your post. Michelle, ship status?" Mathew asked as he walked over to the Dradis board.

"All raiders destroyed and the ship is under repairs. Raptors and heavy lifters are still jumping with survivors. CSAR units are recovering our pilots and checking the Picon fleet station for survivors, none have been found yet," Michelle reported.

"Incoming FTL signatures. I have nine; I repeat nine baseships closing on us. They are launching raiders, three hundred and climbing," Hank shouted.

"Send the order for all ships to jump. We will meet at Point Baker. Land all Vipers. We jump in two minutes," Mathew ordered.

"Vipers coming home. Raptors, heavy lifters, shuttles and civilian craft are jumping," Michelle said as she brought up the contacts on the Dradis board.

"Fire all main guns at the closest enemy ship, slug rounds only," Mathew ordered.

"Sir, their out of range…"

"I know, but just maybe a few will hit," Mathew said as he looked at his XO.

"You heard the commander. Just start firing," Michelle ordered.

For the next two minutes, hundreds of round were flung at the enemy fleet as the squadrons of Vipers came in and landed. When finished the two massive flight pods slid in and the ship vanished into FTL. Behind them, they left three damaged base ships that were hit with the giant slug rounds. None were destroyed, but they were hurt.

**Point Baker:**

The ship appeared amongst her new charges. For the next two days, the Marines went aboard all the ships looking for the four human looking Cylons and found three of them. Two of them were the number two models, and the third was a number three posing as a schoolteacher. All three are brought to the _Providence_ and interrogated. It was revealed there are actually twelve models. Mathew orders them loaded into a shuttle with a disengaged FTL drive and com system.

"Hank, as soon as the shuttle has been ejected, it's time to rejoin the _Destiny_, set course for…" Mathew was saying when the shrill of the handset stopped his conversation and he picked it up, "Lin."

"Sir, this is Macintosh down in the brig. The prisoner… Sir, she killed herself," the voice said.

"What? How?" Mathew asked.

"Sir, she rammed her head between the bars and then used her body to snap her neck. Sir, these Cylons are scary," Macintosh reported.

**Resurrection Ship A:**

**Prolmar Sector:**

She sat up, dripping moisture from her upper body. Her head hurt from the download and she rubbed her forehead as a voice came to her.

"Welcome home, sister. How are you called?" Jamie Heart said as she held up a towel for her sister.

"Anita Casper, I was the assistant to Lisa Graystone and charged to find the Trident mission. I failed," Anita said as she stood up.

"How were you discovered?" Jamie asked.

Taking the towel, she started drying herself off as she replied, "We landed on the _Providence._ I was…"

"WHAT! How?" Jamie said as she started pacing around the room.

"What? How? What do you mean?" Anita asked as she flipped her long blond hair over her back.

"I destroyed her crew. There is no way…"

"Ahh, now I see. Well, you didn't succeed. They survived, but from what I learned they did loose over half their crew. They have been gathering survivors somewhere. They have photos of four of us. Which ones, I'm not sure except for me," Anita replied and tossed the towel in the basket.

"Go rest, I must report to Cavil, he's not going to be happy.

As more number two's, three's and sixes sat up in their resurrection tubs.

"FRAK!" A number three said.

"What's wrong?"

"A Battlestar is attacking Picon. It blew up three baseships within seconds. Our hack didn't work," the number two snarled in anger.

**Baseship Alfa:**

**In pursuit of the Galactica:**

Cavil watched the data stream flowing in front of him. His eyes never stopped reading the data as a number six came into the room and sat down. She took a sip of her drink and leaned back in the chair as she crossed her legs.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be finding that Battlestar," Cavil asked as he turned from the stream.

"I did, and they blew three baseships apart in less than five minutes over Picon," Jamie Heart said.

"Picon? Why didn't the fleet there destroy her with the CNP attack? What ship is she?" Cavil asked.

Taking another sip of her drink, she replied, "It's my old ship the _Providence._ How she survived I don't know. But she is deadly and we must destroy her, and destroy her fast. The _Providence_ started out as a standard _Valkyrie_ class Battlestar when she was being built twenty years ago, but was modified during construction. She was lengthened by eleven hundred meters and widened by one hundred meters. She was given a manufacture plant as well as a dual retracting flight pods similar to the newer _Nova_ class. Actually, she was the test bed for the dual landing bays.

"Last year, she and her sister were pulled into the Scorpion shipyards where her top flight decks were closed off and turned into heavy gun emplacements. More rail guns were installed on both Battlestars and her anti-fighter defense was increased by 120% percent. She was given a comprehensive computer network system with dozens of firewalls to defend her. When the attack happened, I took the bridge crew out as well as starting to vent the ship to space. How they recovered her, how she even survived the attack I don't know. She should have been destroyed."

"WHAT! You want to tell me how one of the two super Battlestars the humans built survived? Never mind! Just find out who was in charge to destroy her. When you do, bring her or him to me. We're going to have a long talk about responsibility," Cavil ordered as spit flew everywhere.

"As you wish," Jamie said and got up and sashayed out of the room.

_**First Edited by Bill Lewis**_

_**Final Edit By TeNderLoin**_

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Battlestar Sword and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2010.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Twins of BG-99**

**Counter Attack**

(An attack made in response to an attack by the opponents.)

**Chapter Seven**

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**Until Now.**

**Point Baker:**

Mathew looked at the woman hanging from the bars, shaking his head, he said, "Send her to the morgue so the Doc can do an autopsy on her. I swear these clones are crazy… or fanatical…" the buzzing of the handset caught his attention.

Reaching over, he lifted the handset off its cradle and said, "Lin, here."

The marines were removing the woman from the door as Commander Lin listened to the conversation.

"Sir, I was thinking. I think we should check the sub-colonies and see if they've been attacked. If they've haven't been attacked, maybe we can rescue more people and ships, there, before they're attacked," replied Colonel Michelle Howards.

"Yes, you're correct, Michelle. We'll start checking the sub colonies for survivors. So go ahead and set up the FTL for the first jump," Mathew ordered.

"Yes, Sir. I'm setting up our first jump to Zephyrrus. She had a population of a hundred thousand, and a small space station…"

"Good, I'll be right up," Mathew said and hung up the phone. Turning, he walked out of the room and headed for the CIC.

Walking onto the CIC deck, Mathew started issuing his orders, "Prep all Vipers for launch when we come out. I want Raptors on standby for CSAR, in case the Cylons have hit the planet. Load the KEWS with armor piercing, high explosive rounds. Load flak batteries, and prep missiles for launch."

"Yes, Sir," came from several directions as Mathew came to a stop at the Dradis board.

"Sir, Raptors are on standby. Vipers are being prepped now and loaded into the tubes. All KEWs are online, except for number nineteen. It's still off line due to damage," Michelle stated as the reports started coming in.

Mathew looked at the timer, and saw they had two minutes to go. Picking up the handset, he turned the ship wide on and started speaking.

"All hands, this is the Commander speaking. In less than two minutes, we are jumping to Zephyrrus to check for survivors. Remember, this is a small colony, and we won't know what we're going to find. So I need all medical teams on standby, all CSAR units are also on standby. Our four shuttles have been turned into mobile medical stations. Good luck everyone."

"Time, Sir," Michelle said.

"Are we ready?" Mathew asked.

"Yes, Sir," Michelle responded.

"Then jump," he ordered.

The giant Battlestar vanished, and reappeared near the planet Zephyrrus. The Dradis came on, and showed a single baseship bombing the planet. Around her hundreds of Raiders were plunging into the atmosphere on bombing missions. Behind her, the space station that handed the traffic for the planet glowed from where'd it been hit by several nuclear missiles. Scattered around the station were the wrecked remains of the planetary defense forces.

"I have emergency transponders on Patrolstars, _Morris, Hector_ and _Link._ I have more transponders from disabled Vipers and Raptors as well," came the report from communications.

"Dispatch heavy lifters to grab the disabled Vipers and Raptors. Target main guns on the Cylon baseship and flak guns at the enemy Raiders. Send CSAR units to the three Patrolstars and see if we have any survivors," Hector ordered.

The hundreds of flak cannons opened fire on the incoming Raiders. The heavy KEWs turned and started firing at the baseship, at long range. The enemy ship seemed to burst, as hundreds of missiles started heading towards the _Providence._

"Radiological warnings inside that missile storm, estimate ten nuke missiles," Michelle reported.

"Concentrate Flak cannons on the missiles. Vipers are free to engage," Mathew said as the miniature cannons started firing again at their new target.

The main KEW rounds hit one of the top arms of the baseship and it exploded into ruin. Before the cannons could be retargeted the ship vanished into FTL. It was quickly followed by its complement of Raiders, which had just barely started fighting the colonial forces.

"Ok, everyone, condition one stays in effect. Launch the SARs shuttles, and Raptors. Check out the station and see if anything is left that we can use. What's the condition on the three major cities?" Mathew ordered.

"Vipers are checking the cities now. We had four birds destroyed, but two survivors. They are being picked up now. Heavy lifters are launching… Sir, contact with the Patrolstar _Link._ They are locked in the dock. They are trying to get free now. CSAR Raptors are locking on to the remains of the _Morris,_ and_ Hector _now.

"Dradis contact is approaching from the surface… I have one… no three contacts close together. They are flashing colonial reconnection signatures," Ensign Richard Black reported.

"Richard, tell them to come to a stop beside us, and prepare to receive our marines," Mathew said as he looked at Colonel Isaac Ranchen.

"My Marines are on the way," Isaac said as he picked up the handset with his left hand, because his right was in a sling.

"ID on the three ships, they are the _Glory,_ a passenger/freighter, the _Whisper,_ a bulk freighter, and the _Keystone_ a small Tylium tanker," Lieutenant Olivia Jackson reported.

"Hurry up, people! I expect we only have minutes to rescue as many civilians as we can. Notify the three captains that we will be stuffing as many warm bodies we can into those three ships," Mathew ordered as he watched the Dradis board for any indication of Cylon activity.

"Raptors and shuttles are on the ground in the city. They report it's total devastation. CSAR units are hitting the outskirts of the town and finding some survivors. Three slightly damaged liners are at the spaceport and they're checking on them to see if they can lift off. Ten Raptors have been found, and are not operational. Heavy lifters are in route to pick them up," Michelle reported.

"Good, what about the debris field, any survivors?"

"We found six on the _Morris,_ forty-three on the _Hector._ The CSAR Raptors are on the way back. Nine MK-VII Vipers have been recovered as well as four old MK-Is. They are being vectored to our starboard flight bay… Sir, they have released the _Link_ and she's pulling out of the dock with the liner _Zephyrrus One._ They're taking the survivors from the station with them. Estimated count is seventeen hundred ninety-five survivors out of ten thousand that were on the station. CSAR units are still checking on the station for more survivors. They did report they found ten containers for bulk freighters full of food," Michelle said with her hand pressed to the headpiece for the communications section.

"Oliver, once the heavy lifters have finished unloading the Vipers they picked up. They're to head to the station, grapple a container and jump to the fleet," Mathew ordered.

"Sending, now. Ten heavy lifters are on the way. Shuttles are lifting off from the planet, along with the Raptors. They report hundreds of wounded," Oliver replied as she continued to listen to reports.

"Tell the shuttles and Raptors to head for the fleet, and get their wounded to the medical ships," Mathew ordered.

After a few seconds, Oliver replied, "They're on the way. Sir, one of the survivors said that the school had a field trip for the weekend up near Blockhead Mountain. There are nine hundred children, ninety teachers and four hundred parents up there."

"Frak! Ok, this is what we'll do. Michelle, dispatch six Vipers, ten Raptors and that liner in our portside landing bay to pick them up. Send twenty marines for crowd control, and _**pack**_ those ships with the survivors," Mathew ordered.

The ships had barely left the comfort of their landing bays, when Ensign Black yelled out, "Dradis contact coming around the planet in an ecliptic orbit. She's about five thousand miles and closing."

"ID on her?" Mathew asked as he turned back to the Dradis screen just as it changed.

"Nothing yet, its coming in on a ballistic course," Richard said as he tried to fine tune the picture.

"Dispatch four Vipers to check it out," Mathew ordered and out of the corner of his eye he saw Captain Mike 'Wishbone' Davidson pick up his handset and start talking into it.

They waited for the minutes to count down as the Vipers neared the target and then the voice of one of the pilots came back.

"This is Vamp. It's a Colonial Heavy liner, and she's been shot to pieces. She is hulled through and through. I don't see any sign of life on her, and her engines are barely running. She's mostly traveling on inertia and will either get caught by the gravity of the planet or pass right by her," came the report.

"Dispatch the reserve heavy lifters, and a CSAR to check for survivors," Mathew said quietly as he thought of the dead on board that ship.

"Yes, Sir," came the reply as Mathew started thinking of an idea for a defense weapon.

Walking to his chair, he looked through the clipboards and didn't find what he wanted.

Turning around, he asked, "Anyone have some blank paper?"

"Right here, Sir," Wishbone replied as he handed a clipboard with a new pad attached to it.

"Thanks, Wishbone," Mathew replied and took the pad.

Sitting down in his chair, he sketched a normal cargo container. He then divided it up in to four sections. Each section was ten feet square. He then divided the end boxes into four sections. After that he mounted CWIS systems on three of the faces of the container.

For the central system, he put a nine pack of air-to-air missiles, with eight reloads in each of the two middle sections. Finished, he folded the paper up and stuck it in his pocket to show his brother.

"Sir, the heavy lifters have docked with the liner and the troops are going in…"

The bright flash on the monitor caught everyone's attention as the liner exploded into a nuclear fireball.

"What the frak just happened?" Mathew said as he stood up.

"Dradis contact, incoming Raiders… four hundred count," Ensign Black reported.

"Fire flak batteries at the Raiders. Tell the Vipers they have the leakers that get through. Richard! Find me that baseship!" Mathew ordered as the ship shuddered as her hundreds of flak KEWs opened up.

"Yes, Sir. Sending a Raptor to the north polar orbit to check the far side of the planet and a second to the sun to take a look there," Richard reported.

Mathew watched as a wall of shrapnel was put between them and the incoming Raiders and missiles.

"Radiological report! We have incoming nukes," Richard reported.

"Intensify the flak field, stop those missiles. We need to buy time for the CSAR ships to lift off and jump. Status of the _Link?"_ Walter ordered.

"_Link _has been hit, but she's powering up her FTL and jumping," Oliver reported from the communications station.

"Good," Walter said as three missiles hit the side of the ship below the CIC and everyone staggered.

"Stop those frakking missiles," Colonel Howards ordered.

"Trying, Sir, but they must have packed those Raiders to the gills," the Weps officer replied.

Michelle looked at the weapons officer, and saw him and his teams targeting the missiles as fast he could with his pointer.

She thought to herself, _'We need more weps stations. We need to divide the batteries up more. I'll have to bring it up to Mathew in tomorrow morning's SITREP meeting... if we survive this.'_

"Sir, rescue shuttles, Raptors and Heavy lifters are lifting off from the planet and jumping to the fleet," Oliver reported.

"Found her, she's hiding behind the far moon of the planet and is launching a second wave of Raiders. Estimated four minutes until they arrive," Richard reported.

"Very well, one final scan of the planet. If no more survivors, we're out of here," Mathew said.

"Doing the scan now… I have twelve heat sources on Highway One, heading north at ninety clicks. Dispatching two Raptors now," Richard said as he picked up the handset.

_Providence_ shuddered as a dozen missiles slammed into her port side. Her armor shrugged off the minor hits and her guns fired another barrage of flak back at the incoming missiles and Raiders.

"Incoming Raiders, estimated count fifty plus on our port quarter, azimuth positive forty degrees," one of the Dradis techs reported.

"Roll ship ten degrees to port. Target all forward flak batteries that will bear, and fire for effect," Walter ordered as his eyes searched the Dradis board for any other dangers.

"Firing," came the reply.

On the main monitor, a hundred plus anti-aircraft batteries opened up and space between the ship and the approaching hoard of Raiders blossomed into bright light as the proximity fuses blew the warheads. Thousands of pieces of shrapnel ripped through the incoming wave of Raiders, destroying them in groups of twos and threes as they started firing their missiles.

"Radiological warnings!" Lieutenant Rick Anderson shouted as his headphones started blaring the warning in his ears.

"Take those missiles out!" Walter snapped as the ship shuddered under another hit.

"Heavy KEW mount fourteen and fifteen destroyed," came the report from the DC officer.

"Send repair teams to check on the crews…"

"Sir, Raptors have the survivors, they are jumping now!" Oliver reported.

"Combat landings are approved!" Walter ordered and on the main screen the surviving Vipers turned and headed for the barn while the flak batteries intensified their fire to cover them.

"Two minutes and we can jump!" Wishbone reported.

"Tell them to hurry," Michelle said as the nose of the ship blossomed under a nuclear explosion.

The warhead was destroyed less than a hundred meters from the bow, but it was still like a hammer hitting an anvil. The ship heaved under the molten plasma as the thrusters went active and leveled the ship out.

"Get me a damage report!" Walter shouted as the terminals sparked from the damage.

"Last Viper is down!" Wishbone stated.

"Get us the frak out of here," Walter ordered as he grasped the Dradis rail.

"Jumping!" came the reply from the navigation station.

Behind them, a hundred missiles flew through the area just vacated by the damaged ship.

**Graystone Research Station:**

**Project **_**Trident:**_

Lisa Graystone sat in her chair and watched as the shuttle approached the small flight bay for the station on the video screen. She was trying to gather her thoughts for what she was about to tell her people when they landed. She had told everyone on the ship not to say anything about the attack, and to let her handle it. She knew, inside, that it would be chaos when the people found out that the colonies were no more. Their race, which had survived horrible things, before, was now almost wiped out of existence.

"One minute until shutdown. Everyone, please stay in your seats until I've landed the craft," the pilot said through the speakers.

With a sigh, Lisa turned the monitor off as ship shuddered. Taking a deep breath she then unfastened her seatbelt and stood up. Picking up her case she was heading for the door before the engines shut down.

As she neared the door, the deck chief that had a come along from the _Providence _had the door unlatched, and was pushing it open. Pressing the button on the wall, the ramp went out and descended to the floor.

"HOLY SHIT! Is that her?" Chief Moria Andrews asked.

She was looking across the hanger and out the massive viewing window at a ship the size of a Battlestar, which was attached to a gantry. She could see the dual hanger bays hanging from the bottom of the ship, as well as the hundreds of defense stations. Her bow wasn't the typical head of a Battlestar. Instead, it thrust out into three large points. The central one was larger, and all three were copper colored. Tucked between the three points were two massive KEW guns that could only fire directly ahead because of the two outer prongs.

"That's her, Moria, think you can get this FTL hooked up and installed?" Lisa asked.

"If it has an engine, I can install it. Why does it have three points," Moria stated as Lisa looked at her.

"Good, then it's all yours for right now. As for the points, those are her rams. All three are solid and should rip any ship apart when she hits them," Lisa replied as she started walking down the ramp.

"Frak me!" Moria said as she followed the woman.

Lisa looked at the dozen people waiting for her including Commander Benjamin Way, commanding officer of the _Trident._ Coming to a stop, she accepted the greeting from her friends and then said, "Everyone, meet me in the main conference room in twenty minutes. Commander, please make sure Chief Andrews gets to the _Trident_ so her FTL drive can be installed."

"Yes, Ma'am. Chief, please follow my aide to the _Trident's_ main engineering," Commander Way said as he watched the FTL drive being lowered from the shuttle.

Lisa nodded her head to everyone, and turned away. She started walking across the hanger to the open hatch, and stepped inside the massive station. She was thinking on what she had to tell her people as she started her walk through the station to the elevators.

She stepped inside, and shot up six floors that opened onto the living quarters for the station. She stopped at the gallery, and looked down on the ship before she turned and headed down the hall towards her quarters. Her mind was still racing with her thoughts as she opened her doors to hear children laughing.

Walking into the living room, she smiled as she looked at Amber playing 'Pickles' with her girlfriends. They were trying to pick up small rings with a thin wand that was magnetized. They then had to drop them into the jar across from them. If they dropped the ring and it didn't go into the jar the ring would give them a task to do in less than sixty seconds.

"Amber, what is the length of the Battlestar _Atlantia_?" the blue ring asked as it hit the floor and bounced.

"Umm…" the girl said as she looked around for help and then shouted, "MOMMY!" she ran towards Lisa standing in the doorway and jumped.

"Hi, sweetie, how are you doing? Hi, Jasmine, Athena. You two need to go home, now," Lisa said as she hugged her girl.

"Ok, Miss Graystone," both girls said and walked over and picked up their bags before heading out.

"Amber, bye, see you tomorrow," the twins said as they opened the door.

Lisa watched as the door closed and then hugged her seven-year-old daughter tightly. Tears started running down her face as she thought of her family, all dead on Caprica. Her eyes settled on a painting on the wall. It was of her, and her cousins Emily, Serena, Tolan, and the twins Andre Graystone and Andrea 'Andie' Graystone. It had been painted five years before. She knew the twins were surely dead, because they served in the military, and had been stationed on a Battlestar.

"What's wrong, Momma?" Amber asked as she reached out and wiped the tears off her mother's face.

"Baby, I'll tell you later. For now, I need you to go find your brother and sister for me. Bring them to my den. Can you do that?" Lisa asked as she wiped the tears from her face.

"I can, Momma," Amber replied and released her mom.

Before Lisa could say anything else, she was running down the hallway yelling for her siblings.

Turning, Lisa walked into her den and sat down at the desk. Activating the system, she quickly started typing on her keypad. The letter quickly started forming as her fingers flew over the keys. On a secondary screen, it showed a list of ships that were part of the station support. It included three evacuation liners that each could hold three thousand people, six freighters with forty extra cargo pods, four tugs, six cargo barges, a small refinery ship and a ore hauler along with forty Raptors and ten MK-VII Vipers.

Lisa was about to hit 'send', when her eyes settled on the picture of her entire family. Reaching over, she picked it up and tears started falling as the door opened and she quickly wiped the tears away as her fourteen-year-old son spoke.

"Mom, what's wrong? Did something happen to the family?" he asked as his mom set the picture down.

Angela pushed the door open and stepped into the room, followed by Amber. Confused she asked, "What's going on?"

"Sit down, all three of you. I have some bad news to tell you," Lisa said as she wiped her eyes again.

Lisa waited until the three kids were sitting down, and then she started to tell them what had happened seven days before.

"Kids, I don't know how to tell you this, but straight up front. Seven days ago Caprica, and all the rest of the known worlds, were destroyed by the Cylons. They struck in the early morning hours, catching the fleet at anchorage. Most of the great Battlestars were destroyed, before they could even launch their fighters. They then dropped nuclear weapons on all the fleet bases and major cities…"

Tears started flowing down Angela's face as she blurted out, "How? What about Andre, Andrea and Uncle Tolan, they were in the fleet. They would never allow this to happen… Oh, God! What about Justin? It can't be true, he can't be dead," she cried out and buried her face into her hands as she thought of her boyfriend on Caprica.

Lisa crossed the room and sat beside her daughter. Pulling her into her arms, she rocked the young girl as the tears soaked her shirt.

"I'm so sorry, baby, I know how much you two loved each other," Lisa murmured to her daughter as she cried for her lost love.

"Mom, what are we going to do? How will we survive? Markus asked.

Lisa wiped her eyes with her left hand and looked at her son. He was so much like his father. He was always the clear one when a problem arose. Reaching out, she grasped his hand.

"First, I have a meeting with all the station personal," she replied. "We will then start loading up all the ships with as much supplies as we can carry. We will then join up with the Battlestars _Destiny _and _Providence. _They have been gathering survivors of the attack, and forming them up into a massive fleet. Once we're gathered, we're leaving and heading out into deep space. The commanders of the two ships think we can find a new planet far from here, and rebuild. I believe it's possible, if we can hide from the Cylons. With two Battlestars, and the _Trident,_ we should be safe from attack…"

"How can you say that? We had a hundred and twenty plus Battlestars in the fleet, and you just said they wiped them out…"

"Markus, they wiped our fleet out, because it was anchored to space stations. They were not ready for an attack. From what Commander Lin of the _Providence_ told me, the Cylon baseships don't stand a chance against a pissed off Battlestar and its full armament. They have no point blank defense and rely on missiles and Raiders for defense. That is their weakness, and we'll exploit it to the hilt," Lisa stated as she stood up.

"Ok, I see what you mean, Mom. But we better make sure the Cylons don't get this base, if they do, they would know the ins and outs of the _Trident_ and may find a weakness," Markus said as he walked over to his mom and hugged her.

"You're so right. So I want you to go to the storage room, and start packing up everything you want to take with you. If you can't take all your computers, remove the memory storage units. What you don't take, destroy. That goes for you too Angela as well. Both of you have helped me on the building of the ship this last year, and your ideas helped make her as strong as she is…" looking at her watch, Lisa continued, "Now I have a meeting in five minutes. When I return, I'll help you all pack. Ok?"

"Ok, Mom. You better get going or you'll be late. We'll take care of this," Marcus said as she pulled his older sister to her feet.

"Thank you, kids… and I love you all," she said as she turned to her desk, saved the file onto her station remote and walked out the door.

Lisa walked through the halls of the asteroid that had been hollowed out over twenty years before. Originally, it was meant to be used as a storage facility for Graystone Industries. Later, it was converted into a manufacturing plant to produce ships for Graystone shipping.

Six years ago, it was towed to her new location by the station's tugs and the secret plans for new Battlestar, Gunstars and other warships for the fleet, were hatched out. Lisa stopped and looked at the _Trident _floating outside the window, and then opened the door to the conference room. Stepping in, she saw it was packed as she closed the door, and went to the head of the table.

"Hello, everyone," she said as she set the microcomputer down.

"Evening, Doctor Graystone," came the reply from several people in the room.

"Please turn the video conferencing on, so I only have to tell you this, once," Lisa stated as she sat down in her chair.

"Conferencing, on," came the reply from the back of the room.

"Thank you. People of Graystone Industries, please listen up. What I am about to tell you is a true story. It's with a saddened heart that I must notify you that seven days ago the twelve colonies of man were destroyed by the Cylons, in an unprovoked attack that left our worlds in ruins, and under the control of hostile forces. Most of… SHUT UP!" Lisa shouted as she was suddenly interrupted by people in the room who were shouting questions at her.

When the questions finally stopped she continued, "As I was saying before you all rudely interrupted me, thanks to President Adar's cost cutting efficiency of not wasting money on the fleet, most of the ships of the Colonial Navy were destroyed at their docking stations. As of this time, we know of three Battlestar that have survived. The _Galactica_ which is running away with a fleet of civilian ships… and the _Providence _and _Destiny_. They are gathering the survivors of the holocaust, and are loading them onto other ships so we can make the same exodus. So at this time, I am suspending all projects. All personal are to pack your belongings and load them onboard the liners.

"Commander Way, I want you to finish preparing the _Trident_ to get underway. Start moving all the small craft into the ship. After that, you need to strip the CNP from all of them, including the _Trident,_ and upload this older version. The new version is how the Cylons were able to destroy one hundred and twenty Battlestars in one day," Lisa said as she picked up a stack of disks in cases and slid them over to him.

"The CNP? The new version was developed by Gaius Baltar," Commander Way stated as he picked up the disks.

"Yes, and somehow the Cylons got a hold of the program and changed it. They opened a backdoor into it, so that when they came into range, it shut the Battlestars down. Also, the Cylons now look like us," she said as she pulled out the handful of glossy pics and tossed them onto the table, and continued, "I believe this is how they did it. So, as of this time, I want you all to look at these pictures. Do you recognize any of them?"

The meeting continued to run as people came and went. Around the station, the families of the workers stripped their quarters as supplies were transferred to the ships and cargo pods.

**Battlestar Destiny**

**The Graveyard**

**Day nine after the attack**

Commander Andrew Lin sat in his office chair going over the reports. On a whiteboard mounted to the left of his desk were displayed the names of ships that had been recovered, returned to service, or at least to partial service. Each ship had the name for the captain and how many survivors were rescued and the distance of FTL jump they could perform if they had to do so.

"Colonel Hawks, what's the status of the rescues?" Andrew asked Colonel Justin Hawks his XO, as he set the report he was reading down and rubbed his eyes.

"Sir, the last three Raptors that came in from Orpheus were shot to ribbons. The Cylons are consolidating their forces, and it's getting harder to find ways to sneak…"

"RED ALERT! ALL HANDS TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS. SET CONDITION ONE THROUGHOUT THE SHIP! Commander Lin, please report to the CIC," blared through the speakers.

They were out the door and running down the hall to the CIC before the speakers finished their report. Rushing into the room, Andrew took one look at the Dradis board and cursed as the three red icons vanished as they were destroyed.

"Ok listen up everyone, times up. Hawks I want you to recall all our Vipers and support ships. Tell the fleet to start jumping to Point Gamma. We'll reform up there and then start our jumps out of the system. Where we're going I have no idea at this time. I know we cannot follow the Galactica, because she has a massive Cylon force following her. So we'll head out in a different direction, one…"

"Sir, can I talk with you for a second. I have a suggestion for you on where to go," Major Josh Hutchison asked.

"Yes, you can. Hawks, keep the orders going out to the ships. Get them jumping," Andrew ordered.

Stepping out into the hallway, Andrew looked at the black ops operative from Admiral Corman's office.

"You asked to see me Major, spit it out," Andrew ordered.

"Sir, I know you don't have an idea on where to go, but I may. You see before I was assigned to the Mirage mission, I was a part of one of Admiral Corman's special missions. I was sworn to secrecy when I joined the mission, and was supposed to keep it a secret afterwards, but I don't see how that helps us now…"

"Spit it out, I don't have all day," Andrew snapped as he started getting irritated by the marine pilot.

"Yes, Sir. Sorry Sir," he replied and then said, "Sir what do you know about _Tempest?"_

"Never heard of it. What is it?" Andrew asked.

"Oh, yeah I keep forgetting you're a former engine room specialist and not command authority. Well three years ago, Admiral Corman and a few other admirals siphoned off some of their budgets for a special mission. It was code named Tempest, and centered around the Dreadnaught _Tempest_ and the rest of the Leonis museum fleet…"

"You mean the ones blown up by the Free Leonis fanatics three months ago?" Andrew asked.

"They weren't blown up. They were sent on a secret mission for the Admiralty. Thirty-five ships were assembled for the mission. Some joined up near Leonis, while the rest were waiting at Memnon. Once they joined up under Admiral Owens, they jumped far out past the redline. Their mission was to find a suitable planet, and colonize it as a bolthole for the fleet. They were supposed to leave hidden markers like asteroids every seventy light years telling us which direction the fleet was going. I suggest we head that way," Josh said.

"Hmmm, and Corman ordered this mission?" Andrew asked as his mind raced as he tried to figure out the jumps.

"Yes, Sir," Josh replied.

"Ok, do you have any idea where they were going?" Andrew asked.

"Not really, but I know right where the information could be. Admiral Corman had a chalet up in the Caprican Mountains on Caprica. It was his getaway, only a select few knew about it. I propose to take the _Mirage_ and ten marines and go check it out. If that's ok with you," he said.

"Do it, and good luck. We'll meet you at Point Roger. Avoid contact if you can, if you don't think you can avoid it without jeopardizing the mission, then fall back. We cannot have the Cylons getting hold of the _Mirage._" Andrew ordered.

"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir," Josh said as he turned and walked away.

Andrew was about to say good luck when the door opened and Hawks stuck his head out and said, "Sir, more Cylons just FTL'd in, six baseships and hundreds of Raiders. Seventy-nine percent of the fleet has jumped. All warships are forming up on us."

Turning, he stepped into the CIC and shouted, "Attention. Launch all Vipers and Raptors. Raptors are in CSAR mode. Vipers are to keep the Cylon fighters from flanking us. All main batteries are to concentrate on the enemy baseships. Reserve Viper squadrons are to keep an eye out for leakers. Flak batteries may open fire when enemy Raiders are in range."

The _Destiny_ moved out of the graveyard of ships and started firing on the closest of the enemy ships. Two-ton shells flew through space with the help of the kinetic coils of the guns, while the defense guns started targeting the incoming Raiders. Missiles started flying past the great Battlestar and hitting the derelict ships as the ones that were occupied continued to jump away to safety.

"Turn us ninety degrees to port, all port batteries target the first two baseships. Blow them out of my sky," Andrew ordered.

Behind the _Destiny,_ one of the freighters carrying seven hundred refuges blew up as the nuclear missile hit the side of the ship.

"Nail those missiles, don't let any of them through," Andrew snapped as the ship shuddered as a missile hit the nose of the ship.

"Starboard bow KEW off line," came the report from the damage control officer.

"The last civilian ship just jumped. It's just us now… Baseship destroyed," Hawks reported.

"Keep firing, target the next Baseship and blow her up," Andrew snapped as the ship shuddered.

"Patrolstar _Anchor_ just blew up with all hands," Hawks shouted over the sounds of missiles hitting the hull.

"More Dradis contacts, estimated count nine more baseships and they're launching Raiders," came the report from the Dradis officer.

"Frak! Ok… combat landings, get our birds landed. We're getting out of here. Set a course through the graveyard," Andrew ordered.

_Providence_ turned with her escorts and entered the field of ships. Behind her the Cylons continued to close. In the CIC, Andrew watched as the Cylon ships entered the perimeter of the ships, the whole time firing on the Providence as she ran.

"Sir, the Cylons are closing," Hawks reported.

"Send the order to all screening ships to jump," Andrew ordered as his eyes watched the screen.

"The last Vipers are landing now, the Raptors have all jumped. Sending the order to all fleet units to jump," Hawks said.

Andrew looked up at his XO and grinned as a single word slipped from his mouth, "NOW!"

_**First Edited by Bill Lewis**_

_**Final Edit By TeNderLoin**_

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Battlestar Sword and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2010.


	8. Note

Just put chapter 7 of BG-99 up, I am working on other chapter (next chapter of BS-SWORD is finished at editors) Also the first chapter called Chiron is finished and at editors This is a sub story of Sword/BG-99, eventually all three stories will tie together or i hope too. Currently my writing has slowed due to me being sick and family stuff. I have like 12 chapters of my stories that I am working on for my site alone about 1/4 to 1/2 finished.

Please leave comments for me, cant fix what you dont tell me.

Mon


	9. Chapter 9

**The Twins of BG-99**

**Escape and decisions**

**Chapter Eight**

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**Until Now.**

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**Battlestar Destiny;**

**The Graveyard;**

**Day nine after the attack;**

Commander Andrew Lin watched the monitors as hidden missile launchers mounted on the derelict ships opened fire. The missiles spun around until they were pointed back at the thousands of Raiders coming towards them. Before the Raiders were in range, hundreds of missiles belched from their launching tubes towards the incoming wave of Raiders. Each missile launcher had four standard short range air to air missiles with one reload each, not a lot for the launchers but there were one hundred and twelve missile launchers or just under nine hundred missiles launched at the incoming attacking fighters. The Raiders could have turned away, but their enemy was ahead and they knew they would be back even if they were destroyed. Electronic counter measures were sent out to confuse the missiles that had quickly locked on to their ships. As they closed to three hundred meters, they Raiders went to evasive maneuvers but the nimble missiles chased after them. Some were destroyed, some lost track, but hundreds caught up to the target and raiders blew up as the thirteen remaining enemy baseships closed on the graveyard. The surviving raiders gave as good as they had received, as they emptied their onboard missiles bays into the bone yard of ships. All around the yard, ships exploded into giant fireballs as nuclear armed missiles slammed into the thin hulled civilian ships.

Andrew watched as the last of the vipers landed. Turning back to the Dradis screen and monitor boards, he watched as the nose of the _Providence_ jerked as a nuclear missile detonated against the armored bow.

The Cylon fleet closed with the derelict ships and missiles were launched from the baseships into the bone yard and more ships started blowing up as they were hit with nuclear death. In seconds sixty civilian ships were gone as the rest of the fleet started FTLing out. First went the _Patrolstars_, followed by the _Gunstars_. The ammunition ships _Lucky_ and _Whisper_ jumped with the _Firestar _class frigates _Brian Gunthar, Jacob's Hammer_ and _Gunner _flanking the two supply ships. The military transport _Gabe_ went next, her hull glowing from a nuclear hit to her side which wiped out a quarter of her defenses. Dozens of freighters, liners, repair ships, mining ship, tankers and hospital ships jumped out behind the warships.

_Destiny_ turned to starboard and her starboard side weapons fired several times as the _Destiny_ slipped past two partially dismantled tankers. One of the tankers took three nuclear missiles and vanished into oblivion, the expanding fireball combined with fuel vapors inside the ships tanks swatted twenty-five more missiles out of existence.

"Keep the derelict ships between us and the Cylons. Notify the remaining ships they have to hurry," Andrew ordered as a standard missile slammed into the ship causing the ship to shudder from the explosion.

"Damage to starboard near frames thirty-three and thirty-four, hull integrity is green. No casualties reported," one of the DC officers reported.

The image of the ship over the damage control station changed to show the hit. The outer section of the hull flashing red to show the armor plate was damaged.

Another missile hit the _Destiny_ just above the alligator head. The missile would have missed if it hadn't been for the communications dish mounted there. The explosion shredded the dish along with two cameras and the compartment they were connected too. The sudden outrush of air sucked four crewmen to their deaths.

"Long range communications is out, a missile hit the dish. Power junction three hundred and twelve is open to space. Four crewmembers were finishing up repairs on the emergency power controls in the room. They are presumed dead," the DC officer reported.

"Seal the nearest blast doors to the area, reroute power," Andrew ordered.

Ten more standard missiles hit the side of the ship as the _Destiny_ returned fire and hit one of the enemy Baseships tearing off one of its arms with a direct hit with two heavy KEW rounds.

"_Providence_ just jumped," the report came and Andrew's head turned to the main monitor to see the _Destiny's_ sister ship vanish.

"Jump us," Andrew ordered as the Dradis screen blossomed with more missiles.

**.**

**.**

**Graystone Research Station:**

**Project **_**Trident:**_

Lisa Graystone stood on the bridge of _Graystone Four_ and watched the _Trident_ exit her hanger. Her pointed bow gleamed in the light as the nearby sun bounced its rays off its bronze points. As soon as she cleared the hanger, she was followed by the rest of the fleet of ships that used to be used at the installation. The three evacuation liners, six freighters with their cargo pods packed full, four tugs pulling four pods each, six cargo barges, a small refinery ship and the ore hauler came out and formed up around _Graystone Four_ while the _Trident_ took the lead.

"Not bad job if I say so myself," Lisa stated as the _Trident_ slowly cruised pass the front window of the _Graystone Four_.

"Have to agree with there. Deadly and sleek," the captain of the _Graystone Four _agreed and then said, "We're ready to jump. Demolition charges have been activated."

"Then jump us to the reaundavoue to the fleet," Lisa ordered.

The ships started flashing out until finally it was only the _Trident_ and the _Graystone_ _Four_ left and then both jumped at the same time as the first explosion ripped through the hanger.

**.**

**.**

**Battlestar Destiny;**

**The Graveyard;**

**Day nine after the attack;**

"Sir, the FTL is still powering up. Two minutes until full power," came the reply.

"Last civilian ship has jumped."

"Good luck Mathew," Andrew whispered after the _Providence_ had vanished into FTL off the main monitor. He then turned back to the Dradis screen before issuing his next order, "Turn the ship ninety degrees to starboard and open fire with all main batteries. Target the nearest baseship. Use the derelicts as cover."

"Yes, Sir," came the reply as the giant bow thrusters fired and the ship turned.

The giant KEWs mounted along the portside started firing at the enemy ships. Two ton shells flew through space, powered by the magnetic coils of the weapons. As the _Destiny_ slipped amongst the hundreds of derelict ships, her weapons would fire when they had a clear path at the enemy baseships.

Derelict ships blew up as the Cylons targeted the weapon platforms that the repair crews had mounted to them. Andrew watched as hundreds of fighters streaked in towards his command to be intercepted by the defensive fire.

"I have incoming radiological signals. We have nuclear missiles closing with ship, estimated count is forty and climbing," came the report from across the room.

"Target those missiles. Time to jump?" Andrew asked as a partially stripped liner blew up as a nuclear missile slammed into the side of the ship. When the explosion vanished, the ship was gone.

"Twenty second."

"Jump us as soon as the counter reaches zero," Andrew ordered as the _Destiny_ shuddered as a nuclear missile hit the ship.

Andrew staggered as the ship lurched. The lights dimmed for a second and then came back on.

"Damage and location report!" Andrew shouted as he turned back to the dradis screen.

"We have a detonation off our port rear. Armor held in most areas but we have damage to compartments 7343, 7344 and 45. Water purification plant four destroyed, magazine one ninety open to space. Light KEW mounts sixty through sixty-three destroyed. We have thirty confirmed dead so far," Lieutenant Justin Hawks reported from the DC station.

"Sir, I have fifty. I repeat fifty Cylon heavy raiders closing from behind. They are launching missiles… Sir, incoming nuclear missiles. Computer estimates there are fifty nuclear missiles closing on the ship. They are being screened by over three hundred anti-shipping missiles," came the report from the WEPS station.

"Raiders jumping around us, anti-missile batteries have targeted the incoming fighters…" the ship lurched as an explosion staggered the crew, "Cylon raider hit us near the auxiliary control station. Marines and repair crews have been dispatched."

Fear raced through the crew of the CIC as they realized they couldn't stop the incoming missiles. If they hit, the ship would be crippled without her engines.

"Damage to heavy KEW mount number four. It's out of commission and opened to space. Six dead four wounded," came the report from damage control.

"Dispatch medical teams to all damaged sections along with firefighting teams," Andrew ordered as the ship shuddered from another hit.

"Fire in the portside landing bay. A raider crashed into the landing bay. Firefighting teams responding."

"Dump the portside landing bay fuel tanks. Fill the compartments around it with halogen," Andrew ordered as more missiles hit the side of the ship.

"Dumping the flight bays fuel reserve now," Lieutenant Hawks replied.

"How long until we can jump?" Andrew asked as the ship shuddered from a hit on the portside landing bay.

Andrew could feel the heavy KEWS firing on the enemy baseships and on the Dradis screen one of the mother ships blew up after being hit by ten armor piercing rounds. The rounds hit the central column of the ship and explosions blossomed out from inside the armored hull. It ruptured like someone filling a balloon with water. Shards of the ship slammed into her sister ships as the top part of the ship went flying off into space.

Behind the _Destiny_ a long stream of liquid Tylium for the fighters froze as it spread out behind the ship. Several Cylon raiders hit the frozen fuel and exploded as the unstable liquid caught fire and started following it back to the ship.

"Ten second until we can jump… Missiles will impact in twelve seconds."

Andrew was about to issue more orders when his vision blurred and the ships FTL drive jumped the ship. The last thing he had seen on the monitor was the fuel they had jettisoned erupting into plasma and engulfing the nearby ships and enemy fighters as it detonated. _Destiny_ appeared among her charges.

"Send the coordinates to point Gamma and notify them we'll be jumping in ten minutes," Andrew ordered as he turned to the DC station, "Get me a damage report for the ship and the fleet."

"Yes, Sir," the DC officer replied and he turned back to the station.

"Sending now," the com officer replied.

The minutes counted down to nine minutes and the FTL clocks came on and slowly started counting from sixty to zero. At forty seconds two blips appeared on the Dradis station.

"Cylon Raiders at 345 range 73633 kilometers speed 300," Colonel Justin Hawks reported.

"Start jumping the fleet," Andrew ordered.

"Cylon Raiders have jumped out."

"I can see that Justin. How are we doing?" Andrew asked.

Justin looked at the monitor to the left of the Dradis station and replied, "Eighty ships gone so far."

"To slow, we need to jump at least a hundred in the first few minutes. Have the engineering crews start going over the ships and upgrading their drives. We need to try…" Andrew stopped talking as more icons appeared directly ahead of them and he said, "Looks like their back. Have the fleet change directions," Andrew was going to say more when the icons on the screen changed from red to blue.

"Their friendly," Justin blurted out.

**.**

**.**

**Battlestar Destiny;**

**Point Gamma;**

**Day nine after the attack;**

Andrew turned back to the Dradis station and looked at the six hundred and sixty-four ships of various types carrying eight hundred and twenty-three thousand survivors. _Destiny's_ sister ship, the _Providence_ was near the front of the massive formation of ships while the _Gunstars_, _Patrolstars_, and _Firestars_ had the flanks of the fleet. As _Destiny_ took up her position, a black craft left her port landing bay. In the center of the fleet was the _Trident_ and her charges.

"_Mirage_ has launched and is jumping," Colonel Justin Hawks reported.

"Good, good luck _Mirage_," Andrew said in a quiet voice.

**.**

**.**

**Stealth Viper **_**Mirage**_**;**

**Caprica;**

**Day Eleven after the attack;**

Major Josh Hutchison looked down on his battered homeworld. Fires were raging in several of the major parks and one of the dormant volcanoes on the southern hemisphere was erupting. Caprica City looked like it was still burning from the two nuclear missiles that had hit the city. They were currently hiding in the shadow of one of the wrecked ships.

Three Baseships circled the planet preventing any ships from escaping the planet with survivors while Raiders conducted attacks on resisting humans. The wreckage of three Battlegroups and Caprica station were drifting towards the planet as its gravity pulled the chunks of metal and debris down towards the battered surface.

Josh set the coordinates for Admiral Corman's chalet in the Caprican Mountains Range into the FTL drive, and then looked at the Dradis screen. With a grin, he tapped some commands into the weapons board. When finished he hit a red button and felt the bay open and two missiles dropped out of the ship. Once the missiles were clear of the doors they closed.

Pressing the thruster control, he moved the ship fifty feet away from the missiles and turned the key to the FTL drive. Appearing over the chalet up in the Caprican River, they headed north towards the Chalet. Behind him, six Cylon Raiders had detected the FTL power spike and were heading for the valley where it had been detected.

The beeping of the Dradis pulled Josh's eyes from his piloting and he swore, "Frak."

"What the matter boss?" Ensign Ronald 'Mechanic' Hays asked from his position in the rear of the ship.

"Lock and load Mechanic, six bandits closing fast on our six," Josh ordered.

"Locking and loading. Deploying rear KEWS," Ron replied as his fingers flew over the keyboard in front of him.

Five kilometers behind the stealth Viper, two Raiders dropped down surface of the river and flew upriver while the remaining four flew over the burning forests.

"We have two toasters communing up behind us. Should I take them out?" Ron asked.

"Not yet," Josh said as he banked the craft to follow the river and the two Raiders were out of sight.

Applying more power, he shot through a thick batch of smoke and banked again, coming back to their original heading. Josh looked at the map on his secondary screen and he knew they were five kilometers from the Chalet that was on the other side of the mountain which was directly ahead of them and closing fast. A few seconds later he flew through the gap between the two mountains and banked the large craft to fly along the side of the mountain and over a small ridge. Applying the forward thrusters the ship came to a hover and lowered towards the trees below. Once out of sight from the other side of the ridge they turned south and headed for the chalet that was built in the side of the mountain.

Landing the ship behind the building, Josh looked at the back of the house and noticed the pile of bags stacked there. He wasn't surprised when the back door opened and a man wearing a colonial marine uniform stepped out of the building. The man was well built, short black hair and was wearing camouflaged BDUs. He looked around thirty years of age.

"Ron, stay in the ship and keep me covered," Josh ordered as he tapped the controls for the Viper hatch.

"Yes, Sir. I've got your six," Mechanic replied.

Pushing the canopy up, Josh climbed out, and held up his hands, "I'm a friend."

"What do you want?" the man said.

"I was sent here to get something for the fleet," Josh replied as he looked slowly around.

"What? Can you carry people in that ship?" the man asked.

"A few. Would you like a lift off this Caprica?"

"Yes. How many can you carry? Who are you?" the man asked.

"Major Josh Hutchison, special recon for Admiral Corman," Josh said.

"The Admiral survived?" the man asked.

"No he did not. That was my mission before this one," Josh said and then asked, "Have there been any Cylons around?"

"No, but they have been clearing the towns down in the Valley have been hit by the toasters. I'm Sergeant Major Lester Corman Colonial Marines. Admiral Corman is my grandfather. Come on in Major and meet the rest of us." Lester said as he swung the heavy rifle over his shoulder.

Josh climbed down and walked towards the man. Holding his hand out, "Pleasure to meet you Sergeant. Who do you have here with you," he asked.

Lester shook the man's hand and replied, "You're a sight for sore eyes. How bad are we hurt?"

"Bad, we lost something like ninety-eight percent of the fleet that we know off. We're abandoning the colonies, but before we do. We need some files of Admiral Corman so we know where we're going.

"That bad… damn. Ok, come in and meet the family," Lester said.

He led Josh inside where they found a woman about thirty years of age along with seven kids ranging from the age of four to nine and three other adults. Two were woman who looked alike and the other was another marine with the same rank as Lester.

Lester pointed to each and said, "That's Sergeant Major Victor Gunner, his wife Abby and his oldest daughter Dawn. The kids are our youngest. We were up here on vacation and doing some fishing when the attack happened. We've been trying to decide on where to go."

"Well you're more than welcome to come with us if you want. What I need is a file from your grandfather's safe and gets some information from it to help our fleet survive," Josh replied.

Abby walked over and kissed Josh on his cheek and said with tears in her eyes, "Thank you. We'll stay here while Lester takes you to his grandfather's office…"

"Actually I need the basement, that's where the plans were stored," Josh replied.

"Follow me," Lester said and started to lead Josh to the kitchen.

"Just a second," Josh said and crossed to the back door. Looking out he shouted, "Ron, we have survivors here. Get them strapped into the drop compartment."

"Yes, Sir, send them out and I'll get them situated," Ron shouted back.

Turning to the group, "While Lester and I get the items we need. Ron will help you into the ship," Josh said and then followed Lester into the kitchen where an open door next to the big freezer stood.

Lester flicked the lights on and they descended down into the cluttered basement and stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"Where to?" Lester asked.

Josh walked through the maze of boxes to the far wall. The path went both directions but he didn't move. Reaching up to the light hanging from the roof, he twisted the socket and the wall slid open in front of him to reveal a book case behind the concrete wall. On the book case were fifty binders, stacks of disks, several laptops and four boxes of thumb drives.

"This is what we need," Josh said as he pulled out a duffle bag on the bottom shelf and started filling it with binders.

Lester grabbed a box that said clothes on it. Dumping the box, he started adding the items from the shelf as well. Between the two of them, they had everything loaded in a few minutes. Hefting the heavy bag onto his shoulder, Lester grabbed the box and they started back to the stairs.

"Did you hit his booze?" Josh asked as they started up the stairs.

"Just a few bottles," Lester replied with a grin.

"Cool, well get them into the ship too, booze is going to be a premium in the fleet," Josh said as they walked to the craft where they were loading bags into the storage compartments. Dropping the bag of binders behind his seat, he took the box and strapped it into the ECO's chair.

Victor was passing the children up to Ron who was strapping them into the deployed bench seats. The bags that had been at the back door were now under the seats.

Lester and Josh ran back into the house. While Josh went to the den and the amazing liquor cabinet that he remember Lester ran into the storage room at the end of the house and came back with three flexible suitcases and an armful of sheets and towels.

Between the two of them, they packed forty bottles of hard liquor into the three bags using the sheets and towels to protect them. Lester carried them out while Josh walked to the Admirals desktop computer and tore the hard drives out of it.

Checking the desk for anything important, he didn't find anything but bills, paper and a empty bag He also removed the dozen pistols and rifles from the gun cabinet that was open. He noticed all the ammo was gone so he just carried the four shotguns and two long rifles out on one shoulder while the pistols went into a small carryon that was in the desk.

"Josh, Cylons are on the Dradis, their spreading out into the valley," Ron shouted from the back door.

"Coming," Josh replied as he picked up the bag and headed for the door.

Lester and Victor came out of the kitchen carrying four large bags each as Ron picked up three more. The four of them ran back to the ships and the bags were quickly passed back into the ship while the rifles and shotguns were stuffed into the storage compartment under the ECO station. Ron helped Lester and Victor in, closed and sealed the door while Josh climbed up into the cockpit and started powering up the systems. Josh laid down on his bench in the stern of the ship and it rose up into the air as he pulled his helmet on.

"Listen up. This is going to be a hot take off and I'm going to have to burn rubber to get the hell out of here," Josh said as the engines spun up to full power.

In the distance, the Raiders had detected the energy spike from the _Mirage_, and had turned back towards the location of the spike.

Firing the thrusters, the ship lifted up, and Josh whipped the big ship around. Heading up and over the mountain at full atmospheric power, his Dradis screen started flashing because of incoming missiles.

"Mechanic, we have four missiles closing with us. Taking us over the mountain… now," Josh said into his headset and the fighter flew up and over the mountain. Quickly dropping to the valley floor five hundred feet below, the ship burned fuel as the afterburners came on as Josh typed some commands into his FTL computer.

One of the missiles exploded on the mountainside, the remaining three came barreling over the top and quickly locked on the Viper that was below. Ron targeted the first missile and caressed the firing button. A short thirty round burst blew the missile apart as Josh dumped some flares and chaff. The third missile blew up in a chaff cloud while the fourth closed on the Viper as Ron tried to take it out with the guns but it kept evading his fire.

"Frak I missed again. Josh, jump the fraking ship," Ron shouted over the noise of the engines at full speed.

"Jumping!" Josh said into the headset as he turned the key as he hit a button on the comboard and sent a signal out.

The ship vanished into FTL while the signal shot up into space. The two missiles armed themselves and fired their engines heading towards the Cylon Baseships in the distance. After a fifteen second burn, the engines shut down and they coasted towards their targets at four thousand meters a second.

**.**

**.**

**Battlestar Destiny;**

**Near Memnon;**

**Day twelve after the attack;**

Andrew knew there were two few warships to defend them against any serious attack even with the Trident. That was why he had the dry dock ship _Tucker_ working on processing four of the _Valley_ class barges and converting to an escort carrier that would deploy twenty Vipers and four Raptors each. Four more were planned to be turned into air defense ships by adding thirty quad mounted point defense stations but it would take time. Andrew was signing off on some papers when a knock on his door caught his attention.

"Enter," Andrew ordered and his second command came in.

"Raptors are back from scouting Memnon, they report they found no survivors. But they did find a message capsule from _Tempest _in the asteroid belt where we were told to look. It gives the heading we want," Colonel Hawks reported.

"Good, pass the coordinates to all ships and prepare to jump.

"Yes, Sir, and Major Hutchison reports they have started building the second _Mirage_," Justin said as he laid a folder down on Andrew's desk.

'Good, very good. I'll be right up for the jump," Andrew said as he stood up and drained his coffee.

_**First Edited by **_

_**Final Edit By **_

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Battlestar Sword and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2010.


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